Ramat Hovav council head: Hazardous waste dump site violates the law - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Fri., December 21, 2007 Tevet 12, 5768

Israel Time: 09:16 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Rosner's Domain

Diplomacy

Defense

Jewish World

Opinion

National

Print Edition

Advertising

Books

Arts & Leisure

Business

Real Estate

Easy Start

Travel

Week's End

Anglo File

Hanukkah

del.icio.us

Digg It! new

Last update - 22:50 20/12/2007

Ramat Hovav council head: Hazardous waste dump site violates the law

By Zafrir Rinat

Tags: law, council, Ramat Hovav

The national hazardous waste disposal site, in the jurisdiction of the Ramat Hovav Environmental Zone council, is among Israel's most important tools for protecting the environment. It is the only place in the country for treating materials that pose environmental and health hazards, and for burying them.

But today the environmental protection minister, Gideon Ezra, must decide whether the site has become a threat to its environs. Ezra is scheduled to meet with the head of the Ramat Hovav council, Giora Meyuhas, who has accused the government corporation that manages the site, Environmental Services Company, of breaking the law and polluting the environment. ESC director Dr. Eitan Zilbiger has called Meyuhas' allegations "slanderous."

The meeting at Ezra's office was called after a series of harsh letters from Meyuhas in recent weeks containing allegations against ESC.

	Advertisement

One of Meyuhas' more serious charges was that ESC's reports are inflating the amounts of waste it has to treat, in order to obtain permits to operate burial sites at less strict environmental standards and at low cost.

"For years there has been a repetition of a modus operandi that is dictated by the company's being a monopoly," Meyuhas wrote, "and in which it deliberately refrains from planning solutions for long-term management, which is required of the managers of the only hazardous waste site in Israel. The company arrives time after time at the edge of the abyss and imposes on the ministry and the local council improvised solutions that endanger the environment."

He also says that air-quality tests near the site found the carcinogen methylene chloride (used as a paint solvent) in concentrations 30 times higher than recommended. Another claim refers to a new burial site, which he says was built without permits and contrary to Environment Ministry orders.

According to Meyuhas, ESC has not built a special facility for stabilizing toxic waste and turning into solid waste - in order to prevent it catching fire, spreading or vaporizing. Operating this facility is a prerequisite for opening the new burial site. There are therefore no areas available that meet council requirements and are suitable for burying waste that is supposed to undergo stabilization.

To continue burying the waste, Meyuhas claims, ESC is operating two older burial sites - in violation of all permits and while "endangering in its ongoing activity man and environment."

Zilbiger said this week that a stabilization facility is a complicated business venture that has been undertaken in few countries, but that if negotiations for a procurement deal are successful, the facility will be operational within 18 months.

During a discussion a month ago at the Ramat Hovav council, Meyuhas announced that its planning and building committee would no longer consider applications to add "environmentally sub-standard" burial space until Ezra addresses the issue. The Health Ministry representative on the council, Hadassa Eden, said that the Environment Ministry has a conflict of interest since it both owns and monitors ESC. She suggested making another ministry responsible for the company. Meyuhas accepted her suggestion and said he would propose it to Ezra.

In a furious letter to Ezra, Zilbiger denied Meyuhas' allegations: ESC has in the past decade generated a revolution in hazardous waste management and made it environmentally safer, he says. It meticulously abides by legal permits, and is not using the new burial site it built until the necessary permit arrives. The substance methylene chloride was not emitted from the ESC site, he adds, and expects a repeat test soon to prove this.

Zilbiger termed "slanderous" Meyuhas' allegation that ESC is padding the reports of waste amounts it is supposed to handle, adding that the company is supervised closely by the Environment Ministry.

He also termed slanderous the claim that ESC imposes questionable solutions by exploiting its power as the only site in Israel.

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	Blast from the past
	The donkey is making a comeback as the prevalent form of transportation in Gaza.


	U.S. anti-Semitism
	The ZOA condemns the U.S. government for failing to protect Jewish students.




1.	Held accountable.	08:55	\|	Colin	21/12/07

Today Online


	Experts: Far right will up violence in future settlement evacuation
	Responses: 177


	Israeli Arab group seeks 'supranational regime in historic Palestine'
	Responses: 287


	Harel: Palestinians live in squalid refugee camps by choice
	Responses: 187


	IDF soldier seriously hurt, seven militants killed in Gaza raid
	Responses: 216


	American Zionist group slams U.S. gov't on campus anti-Semitism
	Responses: 220

More Headlines
07:14 Ramon: 70 MKs support settler compensation plan


09:00 Palestinians: IDF soldiers kill Hamas man in south Gaza clash


07:16 Attempt to exchange messages between Israel and Syria fails


03:20 Outgoing senior FM official calls for military pact with Washington


07:33 Jewish Agency to appoint first ever Christian board member


08:58 Rice welcomes Israeli decision to nix building plan in E. J'lem


04:23 Report reveals new details on Gibson's anti-Semitic comments


03:59 ANALYSIS: Is a truce between Israel and Hamas possible?


07:42 Gov't planning to close most ulpans, privatize Hebrew studies


06:58 Striking professors say treasury's offer of 14% is not enough