State Comptroller's Report Towards the end of his term, the State Comptroller presents the risks arising from the environmental pollution in Haifa

Towards the end of his term, the State Comptroller, retired Judge Yosef Haim Shapira, presents a special report concerning the future of our lives in areas of environmental pollution and the risks arising from them and states: "The Haifa Bay area is one of the most prominent centers of environmental pollution in Israel."

Air pollution and morbidity  

The auditor points out that in the Haifa Bay area, which includes Haifa, Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Yam, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Motzkin, Nesher, Kiryat Tivon, Racsim and the Zebulon Regional Council: "The morbidity rate in the Haifa Bay area in certain diseases is higher than the national average. For example, excess morbidity of Adults with cancer, heart disease and respiratory diseases, as well as exacerbation of asthma in children."

The audit revealed that no actions were taken to prevent air pollution as required by the Clean Air Law, 2008-2011, the law entered into force in January XNUMX and stated that its purpose is to improve air quality as well as prevent and reduce air pollution. Among other things, by establishing prohibitions and obligations in accordance with the precautionary principle which is motivated and all for the protection of human life, the health and quality of life of humans and for the protection of the environment, including natural resources, ecosystems and biological diversity, for the sake of the public and for future generations and taking into account their needs.

Supervision of factories

A series of significant deficiencies were found in the management of the continuous monitoring systems and the samples in the factories' chimneys. Deficiencies that do not allow the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the public to get a reliable and accurate picture of the concentration of pollutants emitted from the factories.

It was also found that in the Haifa district there is little administrative enforcement, by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, on the emission of pollutants, to the point of almost completely avoiding the use of stricter administrative enforcement tools such as administrative orders.

The review raised  Many anomalies in the Bazan (Oil Refineries Ltd)

"The multitude of anomalies, (in contaminations) violations of the laws and instructions and malfunctions in the Bezan Group's factories in recent years show real weaknesses of the ministry (the Ministry of Environmental Protection) when it comes to the implementation of the various enforcement measures available to it."

"The samples (for pollutant emissions) in the factories' chimneys are carried out by sampling companies that contract with them (the factories) directly. This could damage the independence of the sampling companies from the factories that hired their services, thereby harming the public interest. "This is, among other things,

• Failure of most factories to comply with the requirements of the chimney monitoring procedure, including failure to perform calibration tests of the monitoring systems in their chimneys.

• For six years, 12 of the 14 factories in Haifa Bay carried out monitoring, which is not in accordance with the monitoring procedure established by the Ministry.

• About a third of the chimneys in Haifa Bay did not meet the requirements of the chimney sampling procedure for many years (at least until October 2017) and were not sampled."

Statutory planning:

TMA 30 - the outline plan for the Haifa Bay area, which was intended to settle the conflicts in the area and create checks and balances between the various needs - was not approved until the end of the audit in 2019. A bias was created in the planning procedure of this TMA mainly due to transportation and economic considerations, and due to the involvement of stakeholders in the issue.  

The reviewer recommends: "In view of the health, environmental, safety and security risks that exist in the Haifa Bay area, it is the duty of the relevant government ministries, including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Energy, the security authorities and the planning authorities related to the issue to take immediate and effective actions to reduce these risks immediately and to the extent considerable, including that they must examine the extent of the polluting infrastructures and industries that should be in this area."

A tender for the construction of an ammonia plant outside Haifa - The work of the headquarters in preparation for the government's decision and the implementation of the decision

"In October 2013, the government decided to advance as quickly as possible, through a land lease tender, the construction of an ammonia production plant in the Rotem Plateau area of ​​the Negev. The project aims to create, starting in 2017, an alternative to the tank in the Haifa Bay, which for many years stored ammonia that was mainly used for the production needs of private companies and most The products produced from it will be destined for export. This is in view of the level of security threat posed to the State of Israel and in view of the position that the ammonia import system may endanger the environment and the health of the population in the Haifa Bay area. In November 2016, about three years after the government's decision and after a significant delay in the schedule it set, a significant change in the essence of the tender , providing a commitment for the state's financial participation in the project and the risks arising from it, which was not included in its decision and the investment of many and considerable state efforts and resources - after all this, no bid was submitted in the tender, and the project to establish the plant failed. The work of the headquarters and the preparation carried out by the governmental bodies related to the issue, led by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Before the government's decision, including the examination of the alternatives, there was a lack of consideration. The lack of examination damaged both their ability to make optimal decisions and their ability to implement them. The continuation of the procedure was due, among other things, to the holding of an intensive and lengthy procedure for the participation of the factories in the Haifa Bay and their consultation, which raises question marks regarding the degree of balance it employed The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the degree of fulfillment of its duty to make a professional, independent and independent decision.

Risks originating from hazardous materials incidents

In the Haifa Bay area, in a small area and near populated areas, there is a very large concentration of factories and facilities that hold and use hazardous materials. Occurrence of a hazardous materials incident.

(henceforth HMS) in an area with these special characteristics, may develop and cause an aggregate HMS event that will cause great damage, and its effects on the hundreds of thousands of residents of the Haifa metropolis and those staying there may be disastrous. In view of the set of risks that may arise as a result of HMS events in general and in the Haifa Bay area in particular. Risk assessment is a tool that exists to assist in effective action to reduce the risks from the activities of factories or facilities that own or use HMS. In September 2015, the government decided to task the Minister of Environmental Protection with preparing by the end of December 2016 an aggregate risk survey regarding factories and facilities dealing with HMS in the Haifa Bay area.

In conclusion:

This audit revealed that the preparation of the aggregate survey has been delayed for two and a half years, and that the full survey will be completed no earlier than the end of 2020, at least four years after the date set by the government. The audit also revealed that one of the reasons for the long delay in the preparation of the aggregate survey is the Ministry of Environmental Protection's preoccupation, for more than two years, in carrying out an intensive procedure of the participation of the factories in the Haifa Bay and their consultations. This procedure, which only at the beginning included representatives representing the public interest, raises questions about the degree of balance that the Ministry of Environmental Protection takes" between its consideration of the positions of the stakeholders - factories in the Haifa Bay related to the issue and between fulfilling its duty to make an independent and independent professional decision. The unreasonable continuation of a process The preparation of the aggregate risk survey and the considerable delay in its completion also cause the postponement of decision-making regarding the actions that will be required in light of the findings and recommendations of the survey as well as the postponement of the implementation of actions to reduce the risks that will be detailed in it. This is not normal, and has the effect of harming the ability of the various factors related to the issue to prepare for the prevention of HMS incidents Aggregates in the Haifa Bay and to handle them when they occur.

as well Fire and Rescue Authority - is still not prepared for a HMS event that may cause a chain reaction in factories in the Haifa Bay area and fires that break out in them.

The fire incident on 25.12.17 in a fuel tank

In the opinion of the State Comptroller and Public Complaints Ombudsman Judge (retired) Yosef Haim Shapira, dealing with the aforementioned weaknesses requires the government to conduct professional and thorough staff work regarding the future of Haifa Bay, and it is appropriate that this be done by an independent public committee that will formulate its recommendations and the results of its work will serve as a basis for decisions The government regarding the nature and development of the Haifa region.