"Air pollution from transportation in Haifa is less than air pollution from industry"

"Unequivocally, the air pollution from transportation in Haifa is less than the air pollution from industry," stated the Minister of Environmental Protection, Avi Gabai, at a press conference held today (Tuesday) during which the first quarterly report on the implementation of the national plan to reduce air pollution and environmental risks in Haifa Bay was revealed.

This is the first time that a minister or senior official admits and declares that the pollution in Haifa Bay is mostly from industry and not from transportation as many have claimed and tried to convince the public that most of the pollution is from transportation. And not only that, this is also the first time that within a short period of seven months the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the minister who heads it build a plan, set goals, and manage to carry out significant processes and publicly and transparently disclose to the public the moves that were made, which goals were met and which were less so.

"The issue of air pollution is the main issue in the Ministry of Environmental Protection"

"The Ministry of Environmental Protection deals with many issues, waste, recycling, air pollution and many other things, and in the end the most important issue is air pollution, because it deals with people's health and human life. And within this issue, Haifa and the Haifa Bay area is critical because the problem of pollution The air in Haifa Bay is greater than anywhere else in Israel. That is why the Haifa Bay area is a central issue in the office." The Minister of Environmental Protection, Avi Gabai, opened his remarks with these words.

Gabbay, presented to the participants, transparently and honestly, the significant moves made by the ministry, the achievements achieved so far within the national plan to reduce air pollution and environmental risks in the Haifa Bay, and the future moves. "In the seven or eight months in which we have been operating, we have managed to do a great many things, both in addressing the problem of air pollution in general and in the area of ​​air pollution in Haifa. Also the announcement by the Minister of Energy that in considerations of operating the electricity system they will take air pollution into account and reduce the use of coal-fired stations by 15% is already an announcement Dramatically. The Ministry of Energy has never come and announced that air pollution is part of its considerations. We managed to make it so that it would indeed be part of the considerations."

"We have a plan, we have budgets and we are constantly in dialogue with everyone who needs it and we cooperate with everyone. We promised to report every quarter what we are doing in the plan and here the quarter has ended and we report in a very matter-of-fact and simple way what we succeeded and what we did not succeed."

"I look at what we have done and I am very satisfied. We did a lot and I see a lot of results. On the other hand, the problem is huge and we are not taking it easy. There is a huge problem in Haifa Bay, and it is the petrochemical industry that was built a century ago, without any environmental considerations. But you have to be realistic, because you can't dismantle this entire industry and say "we don't need you anymore", because a large part of the city's economy rests on this thing. Therefore, we have set very aggressive targets for the polluting factories that by 2018 should reduce their emissions level by 50%."

"Air pollution from transportation in Haifa is less than air pollution from industry, unequivocally"

"The air pollution from transportation in Haifa is less than the air pollution from industry, unequivocally. That's why we need to excel in reducing pollution from transportation, to at least offset the fact that we're not good at industry.
[bs-thumbnail-listing-1 columns="1" hide_title="1" count="1" post_ids="31945" bs-show-desktop="1" bs-show-tablet="1" bs-show- phone="1" paginate="none"]
Just don't get confused, I'm not looking for excuses and I'm not looking for concessions, we will be the best we can in reducing the pollution from the industry," Minister Gabai explained and added:

"We operate under a lot of pressure, everyone has their own interests. There is criticism from here and there, on the one hand the industrialists and on the other hand the greens are all around this matter and that is perfectly fine. I can say that I am against the Bazan and against the northern lands, against the establishment of the port and opposes everything but bottom line we won't achieve anything. We look at things as matter-of-factly as possible. The port, for example, is a decision that has been made and it is already being implemented and it is impossible to go back. We need to make sure that this thing is built in the most environmentally friendly way possible."

"On the subject of the northern lands, we introduced two major restrictions: 1- That the tanks be no more than what is there today 2- We will not allow the introduction of condensates into the Haifa Bay area, so moving the tanks from where they are today to the northern lands only improves the situation. Instead of tanks that were built 70-80 years ago There will be new containers. In my opinion, there is a debate, but the debate is about a very simple thing. We require that the level of emissions not increase, but on the contrary, it will decrease, so basically the whole debate is whether we believe them yes or no."
[bs-thumbnail-listing-1 columns="1" hide_title="1" count="1" post_ids="23975" bs-show-desktop="1" bs-show-tablet="1" bs-show- phone="1" paginate="none"]

"I believe that the ministry has a lot of power and factually a few months ago the ministry filed an indictment against the former CEO, a man who was the commander of 8200, who was the CEO of the Ministry of Defense and a very respected person and the ministry did not hesitate and filed a criminal case. So if anyone thinks that there is a CEO And saying "I do what I want because I won't be sued", he is wrong! The people today pay attention to the rules and want to abide by the rules even if they don't like them, so if we put conditions into the program on the subject of ZEN, there is no reason why the factory should not comply with it, therefore the debate is not whether the conditions are correct, but whether they complied with them and I know that we will be enforced them."

"Every week we will learn something new"

Minister Gabai promised to continue to see the Haifa Bay and Kiryat region as a central issue in the ministry, and promised to invest all the energy and budgets the ministry has in order to continue to have issues on this topic and to hold a dialogue. "We will continue to work in cooperation and not in media conflicts, and we will continue to look for additional actions. It is clear to me that the plan we put in place six months ago is a basis for change. We will constantly find new things that need to be done, every week we will learn something new and do better. These are the keys to the success we had in this project And the keys we will continue to use."

Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Israel Danziger: "We are leading in the State of Israel for the well-being of the residents in cities that are free of air pollution, real estate that is healthy and energy efficient, transportation that is clean, the growth of the periphery and other important and broad things, which I hope you will see in the quarterly and annual reports of our actions this year, because this is what that in the end we connect with him."

330 million to reduce pollution:

Danziger, revealed the first quarterly report of the implementation of the national plan to reduce air pollution and environmental risks in Haifa Bay. A plan for which 330 million shekels were raised, the main points of which are: Steps that reduce the level of pollution in Haifa Bay, reducing the risks to the population, monitoring pollutants and conducting health studies, increasing supervision and enforcement and making information accessible to the public.

[bs-thumbnail-listing-1 columns="1" hide_title="1" count="1" post_ids="31379" bs-show-desktop="1" bs-show-tablet="1" bs-show- phone="1" paginate="none"]

Achievements regarding air pollution from industry:
Danziger reports that there was an 11% reduction in pollutant emissions (volatile organics)
The requirements for 77% of the large factories in Haifa Bay have been tightened. (about 45% of them in 2015)
17 inspection tours were conducted (1/3 of which were surprise tours).
For the first time, the ministry carried out surprise inspections to detect leaks from 7 factories.
Surprise inspections were carried out in 27 chimneys.
Enforcement procedures were taken against 11 polluting factories.

Gaps:
The number of tests performed by the office on chimneys is 75% of the target we set for ourselves.

Achievements regarding air pollution from transportation:
Fares for light trucks in the Carmel tunnels were reduced by 40%.
Truck travel in the lower city was restricted during peak hours.
A sum of NIS 22 million has been budgeted to upgrade the garbage truck fleets in Haifa.
Strict instructions were issued to 2 public transport fleets in Haifa.
177 polluting vehicles were taken off the road.
Vapor recovery systems were installed in 90% of the gas stations in Haifa Bay.
Gaps:
Completion of installations at the last ten gas stations.

Achievements in monitoring and conducting health research
Added two monitoring stations to the 25 that already exist.
Ambient air sampling has been doubled - 8 sampling points.
Begin collecting updated data regarding morbidity and the environment.
Gaps:
A set of environmental and morbidity data has not yet been completed. This system will be established in 2016.
58 out of 75 monitoring devices are announced to the public which is 77% of the target.

Additional achievements:
The last stage of the tender for the construction of an ammonia tank in the Negev has been published.
Cleaning the bottom of the Kishon: They removed and treated 80,000 mXNUMX of the contaminated soil in the Kishon stream and the next step is to turn the stream into a park.

"All the things we talked about are things that for the first time I can see it happen and with very hard work and blood sweat and tears and cooperation we can reach a clean air zone in Israel, a clean industry based on natural gas, a 48% reduction in pollution from industry, increased supervision and enforcement, a closed ammonia tank , gas powered bus and trucks and electric taxis, monitoring and sampling data are available to all and the Kishon River is clean and open to visitors. I see the vision becoming a realityDanziger concluded.

Yahav: "I don't believe in the Israeli government"

The Mayor of Haifa, Yona Yahav: "This is a historic moment! For the first time the Israeli government is taking full responsibility, taking historical responsibility because it is the one that owns the factories over the years and it is the one that created the situation and denied the situation until Avi Gabbai arrived, and did the right thing in the right way. The factories that are still owned by the state are not One of them is cooperating with us. In the next planning committees, I am preparing to bring the Haifa Municipality's position to a complete opposition to any expansion of Bezan, even by one meter. We demand that every old facility be replaced with a new one, in accordance with the new rules set by the ministry. 50% less emissions in the new facilities. We oppose that the transfer to the northern lands be carried out in stages ".

"I simply do not believe the Israeli government, as soon as it is in stages, we will find ourselves with 4 farms of tanks. I want one transfer and take care of the sinking of the tanks and evacuate them in one fell swoop from Kiryat Haim. We will also monitor the gas stations. We have an unreasonable concentration of stations Delek, 100 in number, and we no longer give permits to gas stations. We will not give up this area and will do everything to make this area the best and cleanest."

The representative of the Green Trend organization, Lehi Shachar, addressed the minister and said: "I feel that, unlike your predecessors in the position, we have an opportunity for the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the environmental activists to go hand in hand. I also see that you also do and not just talk," and she noted that Mayor Yona Yahav had significant statements about the expansion of Zan.

Avi Segev: "The thing that surprised me the most is that both Minister Gabai and Mayor Yahav publicly stated that the main pollution in Haifa Bay is from industry and not from transportation. It is true that it is easier to fix the pollution from transportation because industry is very difficult to move, but this is already progress. The second thing I noticed in this meeting that they give We have a lot of data, but they don't give us an explanation of where the data comes from and how reliable it is. That's why I intend to put pressure on the sources who reported to check the source and check if they are real and meet the compliance test."

[bs-thumbnail-listing-2 columns="4" title="Announcement of a polluted area in Haifa" tag="70" count="4" pagination-show-label="0" pagination-slides-count="3 " slider-animation-speed="750" slider-autoplay="1" slider-speed="3000" bs-show-desktop="1" bs-show-tablet="1" bs-show-phone="1 " paginate="slider"]