Publication: The Lochside Press
The clean-up of an oil leak in Glen Fruin, discovered in January 2024, has finally begun after months of delays.
A clean-up has finally started at the site of the oil pipeline leak in Glen Fruin – more than nine months after it was first discovered.
The Scottish Parliament has been told that ‘physical remediation work’ at the site near Scotland’s first national park is now under way.
Contractors Adler and Allan were removing lorry-loads contaminated soil, with a section of the public road through the glen closed off again.
There is no indication of how long the clean-up will take or whether Petroineos, the company which owns the pipeline, will face legal action.
On January 2 a leak of crude oil from the underground pipeline which links Finnart Ocean Terminal on Loch Long with the Grangemouth refinery was discovered.
Roads in the area were closed – for several months in one case – while residents and tourists were initially relocated.
Police Scotland, SEPA, NHS Highland Public Health, Scottish Water and Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority were all involved in the operation.
The site of the leak was on land owned by the Ministry of Defence but leased to a local farmer – it includes the Fruin Water, where wild salmon and trout spawn and which flows into Loch Lomond.
A protective boom set up in January did not completely prevent oil leaking into the river.
Read more: Finnart oil terminal to close with the loss of 20 jobs
Both the pipeline operators Petroineos and environment watchdog SEPA say only a small amount of oil is involved – but a when the clean-up started a few weeks ago, two lorries were being deployed to remove contaminated soil.
MSP Ross Greer has asked questions three times at the Scottish Parliament about the scale of the leak and when a report would be available.
The acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy Gillian Martin replied: “The ground investigation report is being prepared by Petroineos for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
“The Scottish Government would not expect to receive it formally and has no plans to publish it, as this is an operational matter for SEPA.
“We are advised that the ground investigation work has concluded that the contamination is localised and SEPA continue to work with Petroineos and their consultant Adler and Allan to ensure the physical remediation works, which have commenced, can be delivered timeously.
“Once the remediation has concluded SEPA will be in a position to publish a statement regarding the environmental condition of the site.”
A SEPA spokesman said they would make no further comment at this time but that ‘localised’ meant ‘limited to the land adjacent to the point of loss’.
