Environmental Courts

The Problem

According to statistics published by the Environment Agency in 2003, the biggest single source of serious pollution incidents in England and Wales is the sewage and water industry, accounting for over a quarter of incidents investigated during this period.

If responsibility for a pollution incident rests with a water company, the Environment Agency will take them to court to face prosecution. If the courts find them guilty, a fine is issued.

Surely that's good isn't it? The water company responsible gets financially reprimanded and, as the industry seems to be highly profit driven, they will then strive not to repeat their mistakes and clean up their act.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case. In recent years, companies such as South West Water have been dubbed 'repeat offenders' by the Environment Agency, suggesting that they are not learning there lesson from fines and prosecutions.

So why is this? In 2003, the average fine for the industry was little more than a few thousand pounds. Even when stiffer fines are handed out, water companies tend to appeal against the decision that results in a sizable reduction. For instance, in 2004 South West Water was fined £15,000 for a pollution incident on the North Cliffs of Cornwall (between Godrevy and Portreath). On appeal this was reduced to £3000, just 20% of the original fine!

The basis of appeals tend to focus on the size of previous fine, meaning that a precedent is being set which undermines the 'polluter pays' principle. Appeals are often also held in Crown Courts where judges are used to dealing with only one or two environmental pollution cases throughout their working life. Their regular routine of murder, rape and serious crime cases must overshadow environmental crimes and to date environmental polluters have had little more than a slap on the wrist.

Such small fines offer no incentive for change within the industry. In fact, it is possible that it is financially beneficial to keep paying the small fines instead of investing to solve the problem that caused in the pollution incident in the first place!

Consider this. The average water company makes around £240m a year in profit. Compare this to a £5000 fine and you can see that it represents no more than a slap on the wrist. An equivalent amount for an individual earning £18,000 a year is just 37p! Would a fine of this size be incentive for people to stop speeding? Definitely not!

The Solution

Larger, more appropriate fines are needed that will result in an incentive for companies to change their ways. If a polluting company has its profit significantly affected, shareholders will put pressure on them to clean up their act.

SAS would like to see environmental pollution incidents dealt with by specific 'Environmental Courts', which would place a significantly higher value on environmental damage. SAS would like to see the UK adopt a system similar to one already in practice in Sweden where Regional Environmental Courts put legally qualified judges together with environmental advisors to adjudicate over cases. Polluters, particularly repeat offenders should be dealt with by the issuing of much heavier fines.

Related Articles

17th Feb 05	Green Judges Launch Campaign To Kickstart Environmental Courts
30th Jul 04	Water company must improve pollution record
25th Jun 04	Surfers express disappointment over court's decision to reduce water company fine
5th Feb 04	South West Water fined £15,000 for North Cliffs pollution incident
12th Jan 04	South West Water occupy top spot... again... for pollution incidents in 2003

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