Ship to ship oil transfers already take place at Scapa Flow in Orkney

Fife Council and East Lothian Council are examining "all the avenues" of legal action in case the plans get the green light in the autumn.

The move follows an emergency meeting against the proposals.

Last month the Maritime and Coastguard Agency approved Forth Ports' plans on how it would tackle an oil spill.

Legal cost implications

Sunderland-based Melbourne Marine Services wants to transfer up to eight million tonnes of Russian oil every year between ships in the Forth.

The plan would involve tankers from the Baltic and Barents seas anchoring four miles off the Fife coast to pump oil into tankers bound for the US and Far East.

Dr Bob McLellan, the head of transportation services at Fife Council, chaired Thursday's meeting.

He said the councils planned to look into the costs and implications of taking legal action if the plans were to get the go-ahead.

"It was a really productive meeting," he said.

"Further legal consideration will take into account the details of MCA's apparent 'approval in principle' which notably includes a significant number of amendments which the ship-to-ship proposer will have to satisfy.

"Fife and East Lothian councils will work together to secure an updated QC's opinion on the legal position on the decision-making processes for ship-to-ship operations."

Risk assessment

A Forth Ports spokesman said: "The intention of the MCA to approve the plans means that Forth Ports will shortly be in a position to make a decision on STS transfers.

"We are currently awaiting the findings from an independent expert panel that we commissioned to carry out a risk assessment of the proposed operations, allowing us to undertake an appropriate assessment as required by the Habitats Directive.

"Once we have these findings we will be communicating them to key stakeholders and taking their comments prior to making a final decision."

The Chamber of Shipping said ship-to-ship oil transfers did not represent a pollution threat.

"The shipping industry recognises that transfer areas should be carefully chosen to minimise risk," said a spokesman.

"The waters of the Firth of Forth are not exposed waters. If the waters were exposed the industry would not have made an application.