Air quality monitoring
Mossmorran Air Quality Network
SEPA carried out air quality monitoring in community locations surrounding the Mossmorran complex between August 2019 and January 2026. Our monitoring has shown no breaches of the air quality objectives.
The monitoring equipment around Mossmorran has now been removed following the completion of three years of continuous measurement. This decision was taken for the following reasons:
• There were no breaches of Air Quality Standards detected.
• The equipment used had reached the end of its serviceable life.
• SEPA can still deploy mobile resources in the event of a significant incident, as with all other large industrial sites we regulate.
Data from SEPA’s monitoring network between January 2023 and January 2026 can be provided on request and has been used in the Annual Independent Air Quality Assessments, which can be found on Fife Council’s Mossmorran and Braefoot Bay website.
What SEPA and our partners do
Our role in regulating facilities like the Fife Ethylene Plant is to protect the environment and human health. To do that we work with our public partners, including Fife Council and NHS Fife.
Air quality objectives for various pollutants are set out in legislation to protect human health. In most cases the domestic air quality objectives for Scotland are the same as the limit values for the European Union (EU) Ambient Air Quality Directive.
The EU air quality limit values continue to apply for industrial activities regulated under the Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) regulations. SEPA has a statutory responsibility to ensure that regulated processes do no result in, or contribute to, an exceedance of these air quality limit values.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to review and assess local air quality in their area and work towards meeting the Scottish air quality objectives, and air quality assessments are carried out annually by Fife Council.
NHS Fife is responsible for the protection and the improvement of its population's health.
We meet regularly with our partners, share the results of our air quality monitoring and keep them informed of any areas of interest around our regulation of the sites.
This supports Fife Council local air quality reviews and, combined with sharing information on community health concerns, allows NHS Fife to assess and report when they consider appropriate (e.g., report on the health impacts of flaring).
How SEPA's monitoring is reviewed
SEPA's monitoring is robustly reviewed by the Mossmorran and Braefoot Bay Community and Safety Liaison Committee Expert Advisory Group on air quality (previously the Mossmorran and Braefoot Bay Independent Air Quality Monitoring Review Group), which includes independent technical expertise from the Institute of Occupational Medicine (who audited our data and data handling processes).
Further information can be found on Fife Council's website.
Monitoring pollutants
The results from monitoring of pollutants emitted from process stacks, undertaken by the operators and independently on behalf of SEPA, are available upon request. These reports also contain a comparison of the measured results against any emission limit values set in the Pollution Prevention and Control permit for the relevant site.
The Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI) is a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) and has the primary purpose of making publicly available officially reported annual releases of specified pollutants to air and water from SEPA-regulated industrial facilities. It also provides information on off-site transfers of waste and wastewater from these facilities.
The SPRI data is collected, quality assured and made public under the requirements of Freedom of Information and can be compared with PRTR information from other countries (the SPRI data also forms part of the wider UK-PRTR). SPRI dataset from 2002 to the present year (except 2003) are available and reported annually.
Historic air quality reports
You can view air quality reports from 2019 to April 2022 on our Reports page.
More information on air quality in Scotland
The air quality in Scotland website contains useful information on air quality and provides access to the wider Scottish air quality network. It also provides further information on the air pollutants which are being measured by this network, including any relevant air quality standards and objectives.