AS a longstanding suffering resident to our Anti Social neighbour at Mossmorran I have listened patiently to the "Safety" briefings from Exxon and Shell and the corresponding "We have it in hand" communications from SEPA.

You would think that a Global Corporation would want to improve its relationship with the local community. After all we are told so in their own literature: 'Wherever we do business, we put our energies into improving the quality of life of our neighbours and their communities. We have always considered this an important part of our responsibility as a good corporate citizen.

So the question has to be asked why ExxonMobil are not resolving (or improving) its current Operational Readiness?

There are two (alleged) possibilities: 1: That the Plant Operators are either knowingly, or negligently allowing the Plant to degrade outside of its natural lifecycle. Refusing to secure capital investment to improve the overall Operational Resilience of the Plant and relying on a risk mitigation of "flaring is a safety feature and is itself safe" instead or resolving the problems at hand.

2: That the Plant Operators understand that the only legal implement that can be used against them is through SEPA. The presumption being that any engagement with SEPA will take a long time and the bottom line would be an unsubstantial (in global terms) fine.

You will note that the above possibilities Do Not include worrying about the Community and appears to be at odds with their own "responsibility as a good corporate citizen".

So, after speaking to both a representative at the Plant and SEPA on Friday, we all now know that the problem was an "Operational Upset" (read...it broke) on the main compressor which caused the Plant to go into "Safety Mode".

What may not be abundantly clear is the Plant Operators have a range of options, one of which is to use the Ground Flares. Whilst the Stack Flare is obviously a 200+ foot tower with a huge fireball coming out of it, the Ground Flares are not obvious to the local community. Imagine 2 huge gas cookers built into the ground at a size of a football park each. The Ground Flares are owned, I believe, by Shell and up until recently both were in commission. Only one Ground Flare is currently operational which answers a question. Last year the ground noise and trembling was immense, this time it comes and goes but in McKenzie Crescent, (a part of Lochgelly known for a number of mineshafts) various ornaments on the windowsills were vibrating at a low frequency. For all householders here there is a constant concern that this Ground Flaring may be inadvertingly causing fracking underground which may cause, through time, sinkholes and other geological concerns to be raised (as well as being a noise nuisance).

It doesn't take a statistician to know that as the Plant has got older so has the number of Flaring incidents and therefore the only conclusion that can be intelligently taken is that ExxonMobil are more willing to accept the loss by flaring than by securing capital investment and upgrading the Plant.

PAUL McGOWAN,

McKenzie Crescent,

Lochgelly.