Still without a deadline: The government has approved a future evacuation of the polluting factories in Haifa Bay

Following a long struggle by environmental activists against pollution in the Gulf region, the government has stated its intention to evacuate the petrochemical industry plants from there - without specifying when the mission will be completed.

Zandberg: "The decision - an important step in the process of healing the Gulf, the entire government is committed to it and it provides a real horizon for the residents"

Yoav Itiel

06/03/2022

Sunday, 06 March 2022, 13:35 Updated: 14:20

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

In the video: Adv. Sarit Golan responds to the government's decision to evacuate the polluting factories from Haifa Bay (Photo: Yoav Itiel)

The Israeli government today (Sunday) approved a decision to prepare for the evacuation of the polluting factories in Haifa Bay, without a deadline.

Haifa Bay is saturated with industrial activity involving the use of hazardous materials, and includes more than 60 industrial plants that carry out many processes, using more than 1,500 sources of risk.

This is when the industrial area is located in a busy metropolitan area and close to the population.

Last April, an inter-ministerial executive committee recommended closing the petrochemical refineries stationed there, expressing hope that the process would take less than a decade.

More on Walla!

Turn the house into a spa

In collaboration with GROHE

An area saturated with activity involving the use of hazardous substances.

Haifa Bay Petrochemical Plants (Photo: Flash 90, Yaniv Nadav)

The Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg, welcomed the decision, which she described as "an important step in the process that ends the closure of the petrochemical industry in Haifa Bay, the recovery of the bay and its surroundings, and the improvement of the quality of life and the environment in the entire region."

"The importance of the decision is that the entire government is committed to it, and that it provides a real horizon for the residents of Haifa and the entire Gulf, and clearly outlines the direction and main courses of action to reach," Zandberg said. I believe that the future decisions that will be made will reflect exactly this reality. There is more work ahead of us, and we will continue to work for the rapid, effective, and no less important - right, promotion of evacuating Haifa Bay from polluting industries. I thank the civil struggle One of the most significant in the history of the environmental movement, which led to the fact that instead of contempt and disregard, the Israeli government is adopting and promoting today the closure of factories and a change in the face of the Gulf. "

On the other hand, the mayor of Haifa, Einat Klish Rotem, is not happy with the decision.

"The Ministry of the Interior's geographical committee wants to transfer property taxes from the Gulf port and home front areas from our jurisdiction to 14 localities in the area. Jerusalem continues to plunder Haifa and destroy the north," she tweeted. "Without representation of Haifa. The return of the High Commissioner."

• news

• Science and environment

Tags

• Haifa Bay

• Air Pollution

• Tamar Zandberg

• Ministry of the Environment