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Whyte & Mackay fined over oil leak

Whisky distillers Whyte & Mackay has been fined £9,000 for leaking 20,000 litres of oil from its Invergordon plant  into a nearby nature habitat.

Whyte & Mackay isn’t the only distiller to face pressure over its responsibility to the environment

A spill of fusel oil, a by-product of the distillation process, from a storage tank at the distillery was found by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) officers in the Cromarty Firth last August.

Whyte & Mackay have since pleaded guilty to the offence under the Water Environment Regulations at Tain Sheriff Court.

Craig Harris, head of the crown office’s wildlife and environment crime unit, said: “This was entirely preventable; industry must ensure the proper maintenance of their systems to ensure they meet their environmental obligations. The discharge was made to an internationally important and sensitive site.”

The Cromarty Firsth has been designated an environmentally protected area to support the breeding of birds such as osprey.

A spokesperson for Whyte & Mackay said: “Thankfully there was no environmental damage. We accept full responsibility and apologise profusely for the incident.”

Duty of Care

Other whisky distilleries around the world have been criticised lately for failing to take preventative action to protect their nearby  communities and environment in a number of separate incidents.

A group of distilleries in Louisville, Kentucky – including Beam, Buffalo Trace Distilleries, Brown-Forman and Diageo Americas Supply – are being sued by residents for ‘polluting’ the area with Baudoinia, also known as whiskey fungus – a black, soot like substance that thrives on ethanol released during the ageing process and stains nearby buildings and cars.

Separately, North British Distillery was last month forced to close one of its cooling towers when an inspection into a Legionnaire’s disease outbreak in Edinburgh revealed the company’s failure to “adequately control the risk of legionella in a cooling tower”.

For an in-depth look at the social and environmental responsibilities facing distilleries around the world, see the Big Story in the July edition of The Spirits Business.

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