259 Emissions Exceedances in One Year - Hahn: "The Environmental Jungle Must Stop Now"

(haipo) Following a series of serious environmental irregularities in Haifa Bay, the Haifa Municipality's Environmental Quality and Sustainability Committee convened today (June 3.6.25, XNUMX) for an urgent meeting, led by the committee's chairman and acting mayor, Avihu Hahn.

Unusual air pollution, weak enforcement

The discussion dealt with two main issues: the ongoing violations of the IDF in pollutant emissions and the current status of the plan to evacuate the industrial complex from Haifa Bay.

Unusual air pollution, weak enforcement, and years of neglect. It all exploded today in a heated debate in the Haifa Municipality's Environmental Quality Committee, which convened for an emergency meeting following a severe spike in the number of emission violations from the benzene plants in Haifa Bay. The chairman of the committee and deputy mayor, Avihu Hahn, announced that he would work to stop the "environmental jungle" in the bay: "The data is serious, and the plants must evacuate. Not tomorrow. Now."

The data – a sharp jump

The CEO of the Association of Cities for Environmental Protection, Lihi Shahar Berman, presented worrying data to the committee members and participants:
In 2024, 259 half-hourly and quarter-hourly emissions violations were recorded, four times the average of previous years. Daily benzene violations also saw a dramatic jump: from 63 violations in 2023 to 114 violations in 2024. "The numbers speak for themselves," said Shahar Berman. "This is no longer a glitch, it's a system."

Hahn: "We will demand an immediate hearing and government action for evacuation"

Avihu Han sharply attacked the conduct of the ZAWN and the state's helplessness"The situation is unbearable. The ZAWN has been operating for years in a way that endangers the residents of the metropolis. We have seen shocking data: hundreds of irregularities, serial malfunctions, ongoing pollution. We demand a regulator with teeth. We will demand immediate hearing processes and will contact all government agencies to finally advance the evacuation plan."

Hahn added: "The reality is that the BZN is violating rules, polluting without hindrance, and the public is absorbing it. We will use all means to stop this and dismantle the complex, quickly."

Hearing orders on the way

The Director of the Haifa District of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Dorit Ziss, told the committee that the Ministry of Environmental Protection is doing everything in its power to promote the closure of the polluting factories in Haifa Bay and that there is no place for such factories in the heart of a populated area. In 2023-2024, due to the war situation, some of the supervisory activities were limited, but despite this, regular surprise tours were conducted, with about 25% of them focusing on the ZANN complex.

Currently, six monthly surprise tours are being conducted, in which all permit holders are inspected, including the ZAN and Gadiv. In 2023 alone, 122 emission points in 18 chimneys were inspected, and no abnormalities were found in any of them. In addition, inspections are also being conducted by an external body in the pipeline and tanks. It has also been found that photographic documentation can also be relied upon to assess hazards such as black smoke and leaks - subject to the completion of an appropriate legal infrastructure. We are currently in the stages of preparing a warning and then a hearing, after which enforcement will be carried out.

"It's not just data – it's air people breathe"

Shahar Berman concluded the discussion on a sharp but optimistic note: "This committee showed that there is a front here, an association of cities, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the municipality and the public. Residents and representatives demanded answers, and we will not give up. This is not just statistics, it's air that people breathe, it's public health. I believe that we will see the dismantling of the factories within this decade. The train has already left the station - and there is no turning back."

Bazan Group's response to the discussion in the Haifa Municipality Environmental Quality Committee

Bazan has made huge investments in the field of environmental quality and has achieved achievements in this field, and thanks to this success, the industry in Haifa Bay has become a model for imitation in other places in the country.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection also recently presented a draft national plan in which it was stated that "in the last ten years, there has been almost no reduction in pollutant emissions in Ashdod, in contrast to Haifa, where significant reductions have been recorded in the last decade."

The Bazan Group respects the government's decision regarding the future of Haifa Bay. However, the concept that the energy sector and the security system could handle an emergency without Bazan finally collapsed on October 7.10. As the Director General of the Ministry of Energy, Yossi Dayan, said, "a rethinking needs to be done" on the implementation of the government's decision.