(Hai Fe) - Due to serious air pollution hazards, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued an injunction to reduce air pollution in the Asafia local council.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection informed Hai Pa News Corporation:
The Ministry of Environmental Protection issued an administrative order to prevent or reduce air pollution according to Section 45 of the Clean Air Law to the Asafia Local Council for serious air pollution hazards caused by the fire at the illegal waste transfer station in its territory.
Anna Minaira, manager of the infrastructure sector in the Haifa district of the Ministry of Environmental Protection: "The illegal waste transfer station in Asfia has become the center of a serious hazard that directly affects public health and the quality of the environment in the area. The air pollution caused by the ongoing fire is intolerable and requires immediate action to remove the hazard from the council. Yes, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will act with all the tools and powers at its disposal to ensure the removal of the hazard as soon as possible by the council".
The Haifa District of the Ministry of Environmental Protection today, Thursday (5/12/24), issued to the Asafia Local Council an administrative order to prevent or reduce air pollution according to Section 45 of the Clean Air Law for serious air pollution hazards caused by the fire at the illegal waste transfer station in its territory. As part of the order, the Ministry of Environmental Protection demanded that the Council and its officials take all necessary measures to prevent air pollution, as well as instructions for removing the hazard, including the removal of waste.
Representatives of the Haifa district of the Ministry of Environmental Protection are on site and instruct the owners of the land to act immediately to bring mechanical engineering tools to the site to assist in extinguishing the fire, including internal fires by fire and rescue.
The fire has not yet been completely extinguished
The fire that broke out on Tuesday (3/12/24) at the illegal waste transit station in Pasfia has not yet been completely extinguished, and a large amount of smoke is emitted from the site, causing strong and unreasonable air pollution. Therefore, environmental drives from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Haifa Bay Cities Union drives went to the area and conducted measurements indicating very high air pollution.
From the monitoring, high values emerged according to which the Ministry of Environmental Protection informed the local authority about the recommendation that he was in a closed space in the Bedouin neighborhood in Asfia. Therefore, the Haifa District of the Ministry of Environmental Protection decided to issue to the council an administrative order to prevent or reduce air pollution according to section 45 of the Clean Air Law for serious air pollution hazards caused by the fire at the illegal waste transit station in its territory.
As part of the order, the Council is required to take the following actions:
- Immediate full and complete extinguishment of the combustions on the site, including internal combustions of waste and cessation of the emission of smoke and gases into the air, and this until no later than 72 hours from the delivery of this order.
- Transferring a plan for removing all the waste from the site to the authorized place while presenting references no later than 7 days after receiving this order.
- Transfer of a plan for taking the measures to be taken to prevent repeated dumping of waste on the site, no later than 7 days from receiving this order.
The Haifa district of the Ministry of Environmental Protection conducted routine inspection tours of the site last year, from which it emerged that the council was operating the site without a license and without proper infrastructure, and despite the ministry's appeals to the council on the matter, the council chose to ignore it. Therefore, on November 27, 2024, the director of the Haifa district of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Dorit Ziss, sent a summons for a hearing to the council and the head of the council, which will take place in the coming month.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection is alert to the hazards created in the vicinity of the site as a result of the burning, and will therefore operate with all the administrative and enforcement tools at its disposal with the aim of ending the hazard as quickly as possible.