THERE has been a "dramatic reduction" in the number of complaints about the Mossmorran complex from a peak of 1,671 in 2020 to just 45 last year.
A report said significant investment and improvements in the Fife Ethylene Plant, run by ExxonMobil, and Shell's Fife NGL Plant had led to the huge drop.
Nigel Kerr, head of protective services at Fife Council, said: "There continues to be significant improvements at the Mossmorran complex since the flaring events in 2019 and 2020.
"This is clearly demonstrated in the 2023 general report for Mossmorran and Braefoot Bay.
"Investment in new technology together with improved monitoring and communication networks has reduced the number of overall complaints from over 1,600 in 2020 to less than 50 in 2023."
READ MORE: “It no longer looks like you’re living next door to Mordor”
Councillors at the Cowdenbeath area committee will be told on Wednesday that the annual report allows the public to find out about developments at the sites, to "better brief communities on any incidents or potential future impacts", and allow their views to be expressed.
Mr Kerr confirmed: "Significant progress has been made in reducing complaints and concerns through the ongoing investment / improvements along with increased monitoring and more robust communication with communities."
Both petrochemical companies were issued final warning letters in April 2018 following repeated unplanned flaring - the burning of excess gas - from the previous summer.
Residents were badly affected by noise, vibration and black smoke over seven days in June 2017, while there were further significant incidents in late 2017, and then again in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
On occasion it has turned the sky above the plants a fiery orange, with one councillor saying it "looked like Mordor" from the Lord of the Rings movies, with local concerns about noise, vibrations, light pollution and poor air quality.
There were 42 in 2022 and 45 last year, with Mr Kerr's report adding that this slight rise "relates more to queries" received by Shell to do with maintenance, requests to build structures on land owned by the company and connection to their water supply.
What's changed is that, instead of flaring from the elevated flare - which was visible from miles around - ExxonMobil spent millions on a smokeless and enclosed ground flare as part of a £140 million of improvements at Fife Ethylene Plant.
It was successfully commissioned in June 2023 and they say it will lead to a big reduction in light, noise and vibration, and therefore complaints from the local community.
In October 2023 Shell announced their own plans for a new enclosed ground flare, replacing older flares that were installed 40 years ago.
Sepa varied the company's permit for the plant and told them to have it up and running by the end of 2025.
The environment watchdog received 34 complaints about Mossmorran in 2023 - there were 36 the previous year - which mostly related to the use of the enclosed ground flare at the ExxonMobil plant in December.
Mr Kerr said: "It is anticipated that there will be a lesser need to use the enclosed ground flare as part of the bedding in process with improvements in maintenance procedures and therefore even less complaints in the future."
That future should contain a "just transition plan", according to Fife Green MSP Mark Ruskell, who last year called on Shell UK and ExxonMobil to abandon their current ways of working for a "cleaner, sustainable future".
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