Last update - 00:00 15/01/2008
The pollution relativity theory
By Zafrir Rinat
How are public health dangers identified, and what role do interested parties play in this process? These questions have been stirring up a storm among green organizations, government ministries and industry representatives debating the health and environmental hazards in establishing an Israel Defense Forces training complex (Ir Habahdim - "Training Base City") south of the Ramat Hovav industrial zone.
After Ir Habahdim received its final approval from the military installation planning commission, the Israel Union for Environmental Defense appealed the move to the Supreme Court last week. If the court rejects this appeal, then the defense establishment finally can start construction, and the base will open for soldiers in four years.
In recent years, the project has been given responsibility for developing the Negev. It is the first major infrastructure project that has been planned for the South in several decades, and is expected to bring in services and career military officials, who presumably will seek housing in the area.
But not only regional development is suddenly dependent on the base. The plan also has been burdened with solving the region's No. 1 environmental problem - the pollution from Ramat Hovav. Initially, treating the pollution was presented as a condition for carrying out the military project. But things have been reversed, and the project is being presented as a precondition for accelerating waste treatment at Ramat Hovav. This, of course, helps the government seek to advance it.
Where's the report?
The government approved the establishment of Ir Habahdim in April 2007, based on a report by Israeli experts on behalf of the Dutch engineering firm DHV. The firm was commissioned to evaluate whether the industrial zone would endanger the training complex, and whether this danger was likely to decrease.
A later report stated that two types of pollutants are expected to exceed acceptable levels at sites around Ramat Hovav, including the future grounds of Ir Habahdim. It predicts these levels will drop after factories start using several anti-pollution measures, as required. The report does not address the risk of mishaps involving dangerous substances. Just such an accident occurred a few months ago at one of the Ramat Hovav plants.
This is ostensibly a technical issue that is tied up in pollution scenarios and calculations that very few people understand. But it involves a decision-making process that requires quick action in order to resolve a defense issue (moving the bases) and an environmental issue (dealing with Ramat Hovav), even though the nature and implications of the risks are not fully known.
A particularly stormy debate in the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee last week revealed the depth of the problems and conflicts that DHV's work created. The committee had asked several times to see the Dutch firm's reports, but was told again by the Environmental Protection Ministry deputy director general, Dr. Yossi Inbar, that it was not available yet. Inbar was not even persuaded by the fact that a draft had been leaked to green organizations, journalists and others.
"I cannot show an incomplete report that depends on gathering more data," Inbar said. "I argued with my minister, who said it must be presented." In response to a question from the Knesset members, Inbar said environmental conditions already allow for Ir Habahdim to be built, and said he believed soldiers could be sent there safely within days.
During the course of the discussion, it emerged that nearly all concerned are deeply suspicious of the report findings - and of one another. Inbar was furious over the UED's interpretation of the document (the non-profit organization was allowed to view the document but not to photocopy it) and accused the group's executive director, attorney Tzipi Iser-Itzik, of not understanding the report. The industrialists charged that the report "offers a very negative and one-sided view of the air quality at Ramat Hovav, but does not provide scientific data to back its recommendations."
The chairman of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), received the impression that the industrialists tried to slant the report findings in their favor. One of the environmental activists claimed that during the course of the discussion, Manufacturers Association representative Yossi Arie threatened to file a suit against Dr. Inbar, a charge that turned out to be baseless.
Representatives of the environmental organizations argued that the DHV report is based on sub-par information and is full of contradictions. For example, the pollutant dispersal model in the area found that pollution rates in some places around Ramat Hovav were far lower than those measured by the Ramat Hovav local council.
The report editors themselves testified as to how the information was obtained from factories: "The material was submitted informally, i.e. mostly as computer presentations sent by e-mail." Elsewhere the report stated: "The information gathered in this report reflects only the start of the complete data transfer between the factories and the Environmental Protection Ministry."
In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the UED noted that its petition to the Be'er Sheva District Court against the approval of Ir Habahdim was rejected, inter alia, on the grounds that because of the DHV report, the standard environmental impact survey was not needed. "When the court ruled that the report is the equivalent of an environmental impact survey, it did not have access to the report," stated the appeal. "The report has not been released to the public, and the state has not submitted it to the court."
"I can't remember such reluctance to show information that is neither confidential nor security-related," said Meretz-Yahad MK Yossi Beilin, who is coordinating the discussion in the Knesset committee. "I don't understand this, and when one doesn't understand one begins to suspect. Things are reversed here - the Defense Ministry, which wants to advance the project, is still prepared to delay transferring soldiers out of health concerns, while Environmental Protection Ministry representatives are agreeing to put the base next to Ramat Hovav. It's like the opposition is defending the government more than the government is prepared to defend itself."
"As far as we are concerned, it is truly awful that they are accusing us of creating a biased risk assessment and are causing grave damage to our image," says industrialist representative Yossi Arie. "We don't want to be attributed with responsibility for hazards we have not created, and therefore it was important to us to send precise data to the report editors. We hired a Dutch company to perform a professional audit, and we had a disagreement concerning the air pollution emission data. But we do not have, nor have we ever had, the ability to set the conclusions of the Environmental Protection Ministry report, which is in the works."
No precise information
There is broad agreement about one thing - at present, no one has precise data about pollution emissions at Ramat Hovav. Arie says the industrialists will finish their estimation only in two years. And the various experts and the Environmental Protection Ministry receive their information from the plants.
Arie says that despite the lack of data, one can say there are no hazards around Ramat Hovav based on a worst-case scenario model. However, this holds true only if the model has been fed realistic information on plant emissions.
The Ramat Hovav local council says the best proof that there are no risks is the hundreds of pollution measurements it takes in the region. For example, it recorded only one deviation from the government-recommended level of the carcinogen methylene chloride in Be'er Sheva over the course of two years.
"Currently, no one knows what the plant emissions are, how much they need to be reduced, and what the hazards are in the area, yet nevertheless they decided to establish Ir Habahdim," says Dr. Arye Wenger, an air quality expert in the UED scientific department.
"What is clear is that there are dangerous substances in the air and there are deviations from acceptable pollution levels, which the field measurements show. As for industry involvement in the report findings, what we know is that they have delayed its publication in order to make comments."
Wenger notes that that if his organization's appeal is rejected, the next important juncture will come in two years, when new conditions for the plants' business licenses are due to be set. At that time more data will be available, and the environmental defense minister will be tasked with preventing environmental hazards.
Meanwhile, Beilin is waiting expectantly for the Ramat Hovav area hazards report that Dr. Eli Stern, former Environmental Protection Ministry chief scientist, is preparing for the Health Ministry. Beilin will examine the report, due within a few weeks, and will then decide with the other Knesset committee members how to address the controversial project.