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Everyone fell asleep on guard, and nature pays: this is how the Ramon Crater was destroyed for us

14 huge power line poles were recently placed along 2.5 km in the Ramon Crater, and constitute a severe landscape damage. Burying them in the ground will cost millions, and the IEC does not want to pay: "The plan was approved by the Nature and Parks Authority."

The main thing is that the crater is marketed as an Israeli wonder in the world

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• Ramon Crater

• Electric Company

• Nature and Parks Authority

• Ministry of Energy

Ziv Reinstein

Thursday, 11 February 2021, 00:12

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Protest against the electricity poles in Ramon Crater (Pillar protest tent in Ramon Crater)

It is considered one of the natural wonders of Israel and the world, has been declared the only "international starlight reserve" in the Middle East, the Israel Trail passes through it and you all love to walk among its red-orange colors.

But Ramon Crater, the largest erosive crater in the world, snatched last month one of the most severe landscape hazards in the country - a row of huge power poles erected 2.5 km long in the most beautiful desert landscape there. The

14 huge power line poles placed in the north of the crater are part of an upper power line Ramat Hovav-Eilat, which was planned in 2010 and aims to improve the electricity network of Eilat and the Arava localities and receive electricity from the solar fields established in the Arava. Following the struggle of the residents and green bodies at the time, the then Minister of Infrastructure, Dr. Uzi Landau, stated that The power line in the ground.

In 2016 approved the National Infrastructure Committee (Planning & Building Committee), the plan to build the power line length of 7.5 km and it was agreed that most will be cached, as stated, due to damage to the natural route of the area, but the 2.5 km of the pages remain above the surface.

In 2019 the company The electricity in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority, hereinafter RTG, began to plant the underground power line in the south of the crater, but a few weeks ago the large electricity poles were erected causing damage to the landscape at the hiker's favorite desert site, and their electrification process is cable and iron these days. To end by the end of the year.

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It was agreed that most of it would be buried.

The power line in Ramon Crater (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Effie Perry)

And this is what the threat from the air looks like (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Shimon Buxtein)

Everyone fell asleep on guard

This omission has many ancestors and it seems that nature conservation bodies, including the Nature and Parks Authority and the Society for the Protection of Nature, but especially the then Ramat Negev Regional Council chairman Shmulik Rifman and then Mitzpe Ramon local council chairman Flora Shoshan, fell asleep during conservation and submission of the plan. Expressed opposition to the power line somewhere in 2010.

They may have thought that the whole thing would indeed be underground.

But plans aside and reality aside.

The IEC, for its part, which pledged according to Government Resolution 465 that electricity production by 2025 will be from renewable energy, is interested in receiving the solar electricity of the people of the Negev and the Arava, and has transferred the power line, but hangs the route, including the surface power line supervised by RTG. To Walla! Tourism, and addressed to Merom and Ramat Hanegev Regional Council Chairman Eran Doron last week, IEC CEO Ofer Bloch points to RTG as the landscape responsible for approving the layout of the power line. "The planning process that determined the positions of the pillars was done in collaboration with the Nature and Parks Authority "When the route approved as part of the plan, including the locations of the terminal pillars, was acceptable to RTG, which is responsible for the 'Ramon Crater' nature reserve," Bloch writes.

He adds that "the work plan for the construction of the terminal pillars was sent for reference to the Mitzpe Ramon local council engineer, who confirmed that the local council has no objection to the proposed route in the work plan."

In a letter recently sent by the current head of the local council of Mitzpe Ramon, Roni Marom, to his residents and reached Walla!

Tourism, he admits that "the Mitzpe Ramon local council does not absolve itself of responsibility for the serious planning malfunction. Undoubtedly we should have understood the implications much earlier."

The Society for the Protection of Nature

says that "the route of the pillars was accompanied at the time by a struggle led by the residents of the area, together with the Society for the Protection of Nature and RTG, a struggle that led to the historic decision of the then Minister of Infrastructure, Dr. Uzi Landau, to bury the line in Ramon Crater. Regarding the burying of the lines and the effect on the route of the area, we believe that the rest of the line can also be buried. "

The Nature and Parks Authority

, which as mentioned believes in nature conservation, probably in the crater where it declared a national park (Harmon colors axis) and set up night camps (like the upgraded Wells parking lot), say the plan was held in Bethlehem and published for public opposition, but "there was no opposition and so on. The plan was approved. "According to the authority, as the construction progressed, it became clear that"

thanks to the professional and sensitive work of the electricity company accompanied by RTG inspectors, the burial is carried out in a way that damages the area less than expected and the restoration was carried out very successfully

. "

"Since the fear of ecological and scenic damage from burial in sensitive sections was a significant consideration in the decision-making process in the past, it is also appropriate and permissible to re-examine the issue." It is not clear why RTG thinks it is appropriate and permissible to re-examine the issue, and does not demand it. As a body entrusted with preserving the environment in the Ramon Crater, but it seems that the RTG has already given up on burying the pillars, when it stated in its response that "the ascent to the cliff apparently, as we know today, had to be received on an overhead line."

According to the IEC, the route was acceptable for RTG. Ramon Crater (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Eyal Shapira)

Quite a few bodies fell asleep on guard, and we received a scenic hazard (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Effie Perry)

NIS 60 million or crying for generations

But instead of the bodies that were supposed to prevent the severe blow to the crater and their voices were quite silent, the residents of Mitzpe Ramon and nature lovers came and raised a shout - the cry of the sandstone and limestone that formed the crater about 100 million years ago, and suddenly "discovered" a different view.

A few weeks ago, Mitzpeh members set up a protest tent inside the crater, near the pillars themselves, and hung signs and held events aimed at raising awareness.

"For a whole year we did not realize that there would be pillars here, because we believed in the Electric Company and the Nature and Parks Authority, according to the statement of former Tourism Minister Uzi Landau, that all the pillars would be buried in the ground," says Walla!

Epic Perry Tourism, a guide for jeep tours and protest leaders.

According to Perry, the electricity company is trying to "put everyone to sleep" and has stated that it will find a solution to bury the rest of the pillars, but quietly continues to electrify the power line without anyone noticing.

The IEC claims that if they receive a statutory approval and a budget is found (of NIS 60 million) - then they will bury the pillars in the ground, like the other five kilometers that have already been buried.

But as protest organizers fear, such a budget will not be found once the pillars are electrified, and they will be here to stay.

forever.

"As soon as the pillars are electrified, our power point will disappear," explains Nadav Silbert, also one of the leaders of the protest and a jeep tour guide from Mitzpe.

"We all know there will be no budget to plant the pillars, and it will be a completely-permanent electrification."

Silvert wonders why they buried only 5 km out of the line's 7.5 km in the ground.

"After all, the whole project is budgeted for a huge budget, so what's the problem with planting another 2.5 km?" He says, "It is very minor in terms of the scope of the project, and on the other hand has a dramatic significance of the landscape."

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"We will not despair, we will fight for the crater."

One of the supporters of the protest (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Effie Perry)

Crying for generations.

Why did not bury the remaining 2.5 km of the electricity poles? (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Effie Perry)

The protest takes place next to the pages themselves (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Effie Perry)

The main thing is that Israel markets the crater to the world

What is mostly incomprehensible is how the Israeli government, including the Ministry of Tourism and RTG, government entities that invested millions of shekels in the development of the crater's tourism, such as paving the Israel Bicycle Trail and marketing it around the world, setting up overnight parking lots In June last year at a cost of 5 million shekels - ready for the severe landscape damage to the Israeli desert wonder that is pumped to the world as a unique international attraction. What would those tourists who might come to the crater after the corona, see the pillars in one long column think? From our third world country, which does not know how to preserve its natural treasures. The

Ministry of Tourism stated:

"The ministry believes that it is of paramount importance to preserve natural values, especially in Ramon Crater, which is a key part of the Ministry of Tourism's strategic plan to develop the Negev brand as a tourist brand.

We believe that the crater and the entire Negev have enormous potential for mainly European tourism, and the natural desert landscape is the main attraction of the Negev.

In recent years, the ministry has invested large budgets in the development of tourism infrastructure, while maintaining nature as much as possible alongside development, in order to make the Negev attractive to tourists and to preserve and prevent such significant damage to the landscape. "And the

absurdity is huge, since one decision was made in 1994. Yossi Sarid, the then Minister of the Environment, persuaded the government, with the encouragement of RTG and the Society for the Protection of Nature, to preserve the "Land of the Craters" and stop mining minerals that have a substitute elsewhere, as well as repairing "wounds" caused. As a result of many years of mining.

The Quarry Rehabilitation Fund in Israel is responsible for this - a body that is under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy.

The same body, repaired the damage created by the Kawalin quarries in the Ramon Crater, and turned them into beautiful hiking sites, including some of the necessary wading sites for desert hikers, created due to the accumulation of rainwater and high groundwater.

It is therefore puzzling how the Ministry of Energy, the trust of the Electric Company and the restoration of the Ramon Crater with the help of the Quarry Rehabilitation Fund - can cause irreversible environmental damage to the crater in the same breath, because once the overhead power line is electrified, they will not find NIS 60 million. The electricity.

Certainly not in a difficult economic period for Corona.

The IEC

says that a few days after the protest began, RTG approached it and agreed that "everyone is working to redesign and locate a budget source to get a permit," says IEC spokeswoman Dalia Bodinger.

How long will it take?

"God knows.

An estimate of about two years.

In those two years, the line will be electrified at the end of the current year, and once they get permits, they will use the bypass infrastructure and land the poles and re-electrify. " The residents of the Arava and the Negev whose electricity is not of high quality, "she says.

Millions were invested by RTG and the Ministry of Tourism in paving it.

Israel Trail in Ramon Crater (Photo: PR, Photo: Ziv Reinstein)

The Ministry of Energy is rehabilitating the crater on the one hand, and damaging it on the other.

The Kaolin Quarry that has become a tourist attraction (Photo: Ziv Reinstein, Ziv Reinstein)

Protest organizers: "Electricity can not happen"

The electricity company does not intend to stop the project.

According to the company's CEO, "After electrifying the line, as long as a technological and financing solution is found and appropriate decisions are made by the competent state bodies, the IEC will examine additional solutions that will benefit the landscape and environment while not compromising the vital needs of the electricity sector." We will continue with ours, and in the future if, perhaps, we see and if someone (not us) pays NIS 60 million, we will check if there is a situation to plant.

Yesterday (Wednesday) a truck arrived with the company's employees to promote the electrification, but these arrived without an RTG inspector. As requested in the instructions, and the protesters did not let them work, and the workers made a back turn.

"The electric company can not drive in nature as it pleases," says Silvert who stopped the truck with his friends in protest.

"We expect the RTG to fine the work trucks, like any other person who would have entered the area without the permission of an inspector."

On the other hand, the people in the protest tent do not intend to just wave flags, and certainly not a white flag. To thwart the continuation of the work, "says Silvert. According to him, Ramon Crater is the gateway to the land of the craters and it" supports "30 percent of the residents (tourism, business, hotels, etc.)." There is no trip you do not get off with the jeep from Ma'ale Ha'atzmaut (where a line was established The suspense - ZR) to photograph all this beauty, and when you see all these big pillars it's just awful, "he says." It's a total of 2.5 km. Tomorrow you can decide to bury it, and prevent the scenic destruction.

You feel That you are fighting for the crater for the sake of the people of Israel?

"Sure, Mitzpe Ramon was built around the crater, this is the gateway to the 'Land of Genesis' that the government is so concerned about.

Once the line is electrified - everything will go down the drain.

Damage to this property is no longer damage to a development town (Mitzpe - ZR), it is damage to unique landscapes in the world.

We can not stand these lines - as we stood under the trucks yesterday, so we will do in the future.

They will not take the crater from us.

Beyond the fact that the crater is our home, it is the only property that the residents of Mitzpe have, and we will not allow that to happen. "

14 pillars currently standing above the ground.

What will be their fate and the fate of the landscape?

(Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Sharon Fischer)

Protesters opened tents and old houses near the pillars (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Efrat Kedem Silver)

There is more hope

It is not too late to save the crater.

Tomorrow, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and IEC officials plan to visit the crater for a tour.

Perhaps they will understand the terrible damage that form the pillars in the landscape, and sifts through the deep pocket and found the amount to plant the rest of the 2.5 km remaining, so it would not be weeping for generations.

Department of Energy said:

"Energy Ministry is examining the issue, all aspects of the In doing so, such as planning, schedules, development plans, construction costs, environmental issues and physical visibility, and will formulate his position after completing this inspection. "

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz's office said:

" Although the plan was approved, coordinated, agreed and by the Nature and Parks Authority and society. For the protection of nature and to their satisfaction, Minister Yuval Steinitz intends to examine the issue and formulate his position after completing the examination of all relevant aspects, including, development plans, financial costs, planning and schedules.

The minister intends to visit the place himself over the next few days. "

For more information on the column protest in Ramon Crater

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