A company representative appeared at the court on Wednesday in front of District Judge John McGarva to admit all 12 charges dating between 2018 and 2020.
The Environment Agency has brought the health and safety breaches against Essar, based in Stanlow.
DJ McGarva received guilty pleas to 12 charges of failing to comply with or contravene environmental permit conditions.
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Charge one related to no fewer than 62 occasions in relation to Total Oil Suspended Solids; charge two related to no fewer than 19 contraventions in relation to Total Suspended Solids; charge three for 25 occasions for Chemical Oxygen Demand; charge four for 144 occasions for Total Oil; charge five for 62 occasions for Total Suspended Solids and charge six for 19 occasions for Chemical Oxygen Demand.
Charge seven is for four occasions of cyanide; charge eight is six occasions for Phenol; charge nine is 78 occasions for Total Oil; charge 10 is 21 occasions for Total Oil while charges 11 and 12 are also for Total Oil and regard emissions notification failures.
A timetable for the case was set out by DJ McGarva who was told a basis of plea will be ready by Tuesday, May 5 for the Environment Agency and any revised basis of plea – if needed – will be ready by June 7.
A next stage date will be on Tuesday, July 14, at Warrington Magistrates Court.
Following today’s hearing the firm stated: “Essar Energy Transition Fuels takes its responsibilities for wastewater management extremely seriously.
The company accepts the enforcement action being taken by the Environment Agency for these historic breaches and regrets and apologises for these incidents.
There were no reports of environmental contamination, or impact on wildlife during the time of these breaches.
“Essar Energy Transition Fuels has taken action to address the causes of these breaches.
The company has invested £24m into new facilities to route Stanlow’s wastewater streams to the United Utilities Ellesmere Port Wastewater Treatment works.
The company has also implemented other changes to remedy these issues. This has delivered a significant improvement in overall performance ensuring the company is meeting permitting requirements.
“Essar Energy Transition Fuels is committed to continuous improvement and efforts are ongoing to further improve standards for measuring discharges with completion expected in the summer of 2026.”
