It has been reported that an internal report from the Scottish Government’s environmental watchdog confirmed that diesel contamination was present around the rig at Dalmore Beach.

This contradicts the repeated statement by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) who stated there was “no pollution” from the Transocean Winner after it became grounded on the 8th of August.

The MCA’s integrity has been attacked by angry environmentalists and concerned citizens who see their actions as a breach of trust. The MCA has advised that its aim is to be “totally transparent”.

The pollution in question was detected by sceintists from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) it is reported.

According to newspaper reports the report stated:

“On-site operations identified potential hydrocarbon contamination on the shoreline,” “Responding organisations also reported an odour in the air and members of the Coastguard reported experiencing sore throats.”

Scientists reported “low levels of weathered diesel in two seawater samples and elevated levels of two toxic chemicals from diesel, benzene and toulene, in the air. Concentrations of the chemicals in the air on 11-13 August ranged from 0.22 to 1.32 parts per million”.

“The values observed are higher than the expected background concentrations for this area” the report said but clarified they were “below all compared health related exposure limits”.

SEPA had made the MCA aware of their testing results, but neither organisation took the steps to publicise the information, instead the MCA issued a series of statements saying there was no sign of pollution from the rig.

On the 12 of August the MCA advised “There was no pollution detected in the area of the rig, no sheen or sign of pollution has been found”

On the 15th of August the MCA stated “There are no reports of pollution”

Friends of the Earth Scotland Director DR Richard Nixon had the followig to add “The MCA clearly denied there was any polution at all when they knew that both air and water samples were polluted by diesel fuel, The MCA will have to explain why they covered up the pollution and misled the public”

Calum Duncan of the Marine Conservation Society in Scotland advised “Whilst we are glad there does not appear to have been gross pollution or human harm from the grounding, any is unacceptable”, “For public confidence, all known information needs to be available as soon as possible after any incident, All agencies involved therefore have to learn from this to be clearer and more joined-up with their public updated.”

The MCA has defended its original statement giving the following response to accusations: “While we were aware of reports of a light sheen and smell of oil, our investigations showed no evidence of pollution in the area”

The rig is now being inspected for damage by divers before it departs on its journey to Turkey to be decommissioned.

According to SEPA, the pollution ti had detected was “not significant” and it was not clearl how much could be blamed on the stranded oil rig.