After the environmental incident: Complaint against EPA | Israel Today

The mayor of Ashkelon has decided to file a criminal complaint with the police against the EPA for its direct responsibility for the severe odor nuisances suffered by residents in the area.

• The facility from which the fuel leaked

  Photography: 

  Courtesy of the Association of Cities for the Environment Ashkelon District

Ashkelon Mayor Tomer Glam decided today (Friday) to file a criminal complaint with the police against the EPA company for its direct responsibility for the severe odor nuisances suffered by residents in the area, from the EPA facility in the city.

Since yesterday, after torrential rains fell in Ashkelon, one of the EPA facilities has had a malfunction, causing a lot of fuel to leak out of the tank, and many residents have complained of difficulty breathing and burning eyes, especially the elderly and babies.

EPA employees acted to rectify the malfunction, but to no avail.

The event ended and was handled by the company in collaboration with the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

It should be emphasized that odors do not pose a danger to public health.

"EPA is committed to the values ​​of environmental protection and the residents of the area in which it operates."

But this morning, too, the residents complained that they were still having difficulty breathing and many of them were suffering from vomiting and headaches, and the Ashkelon municipality claimed that the company had not yet fixed the fault.

Following the above incident, the Association of Cities for the Environment, Ashkelon District, appealed to the director general of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the district director to open a criminal investigation against the EPA. The union asked the Ministry of Environmental Protection to open a criminal investigation The law with those responsible for them.

The union also requested that the ministry act as soon as possible to update the terms of the EPA's obsolete business license, in order to adapt them to the scope of the environmental exposure from its activities to the residents of the sub-district.

Meital Amitai, CEO of the Association of Cities for the Environment: "The serious incident indicates the urgent need to provide the union and the competent authorities with appropriate monitoring tools so that it is possible to monitor in real time and prevent such environmental nuisances."