Following a criminal investigation by the Green Police at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the filing of indictments, today (19/05/24) the Haifa Magistrate's Court convicted the companies BaZen and Gadiv and an officer of the companies - Yariv Gratz, as part of a plea agreement. A financial sanction was also imposed The total fines are NIS 2,500,000, in addition to a financial sanction of NIS 1,018,500 on the Kaol company.
The Bezan company was convicted and fined NIS 2,000,000. The company signed an undertaking to refrain from committing offenses in the amount of NIS 1,356,000 for three years. The Gadiv company was convicted and fined in the amount of NIS 500,000. The company signed an undertaking to refrain from committing offenses in the amount of NIS 1,000,000 for three years. Yariv Gertz, manager A senior member of the company at the time of committing the offenses was convicted and fined NIS 100,000. Gertz signed an undertaking in the same amount to refrain from committing the offenses for three years. Also, Carmel Olpinim will pay a total of NIS 1,018,500.
The Bezen company has a plant located in the Haifa Bay that is engaged in the refining of crude oil and intermediate products, the production and sale of fuel products. The company must, according to the emission permit given to it by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, periodically sample the plant's chimneys and make sure that the emission values do not exceed the permit. A surprise made by the Haifa District of the Ministry of Environmental Protection was that deviations were measured in the emission values in the factory chimneys between 2017 and 2019, contrary to the provisions of the emission permit and at the same time causing strong or unreasonable air pollution.
Following these violations, the Haifa District of the Ministry of Environmental Protection took enforcement measures which led, among other things, to criminal investigations by the Green Police in the Ministry. The indictment as part of the settlement includes events from two investigation files, and within it the Bezan company and Yariv Gertz were convicted for causing severe and unreasonable air pollution and violations of the emission permit not according to the requirements and not according to the law.
The Gadiv company has a factory located in the Haifa Bay that deals with the production of chemicals, including dangerous substances and benzene-type oil. Benzene is a toxic substance that exposure to can cause the formation of cancer cells. Benzene is also toxic to the marine environment and in low concentrations causes the death of animals and damage to the reproductive capacity of fish.
On August 18, 2021, as part of the loading of benzene to a ship at the chemical terminal in the port of Haifa, a pipe exploded and led to benzene spilling into the sea and into the public domain. During the benzene claim, the defendants violated the conditions of the emission permit given to them by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and acted contrary to the various provisions of the law. For this incident, the defendants Gadiv and Yriv Geretz were convicted of spilling oil into the sea water, of the prohibition of polluting the public domain, of not taking advance measures when oil was poured in, and of violating the terms of the poisons permit.
In addition to this, a financial sanction of NIS 1,018,500 will be imposed against KOL (Carmel Olpinim) for a number of incidents in which it operated the ethylene torch in the monomer facility without the emission permit.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection was represented by Attorney Dan Tonik and Attorney Rinat Yair Ayalon, accompanied by the Legal Bureau of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection operates, routinely and in emergencies, in the supervision of factories in Haifa in particular and throughout the country in general, with the aim of preventing and reducing pollution of air, sea water and hazardous substances. The office will continue to pursue legal action against any company or enterprise and their officers who violate the provisions of the law and harm public health and the environment.
It's nice that they fined whoever they fined, in the meantime we breathe every day so this poison. enough !
All this filth must be removed,
Indifference kills people every day from lung diseases and cancer!!!
As long as the managers do not pay a penny out of their pockets and the one who pays is the company's deep pocket, then the lesson will not be learned and the contamination will continue.