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The Reporter: Air pollution is worst environmental problem -- watchdog warns
Rena Rossner

Dismayed by what it calls relentless official refusal to impose appropriate air quality standards, the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (IUED), is hoping public pressure will force action on what it calls Israel�s most pressing environmental crisis.

The call for activism follows the recent publication of the organization�s Environmental Poverty Report, which asserts that Israel is now facing "Third World" environmental crises: It says that almost all drinking water sources in the Tel Aviv region are unfit for human consumption, that the ratio of people to green space is far below acceptable norms, and that illegal garbage disposal dumps are burgeoning. But Fran Ran, Development Director at the nonprofit group, told The Report that the "greatest concern" is air pollution, which has reached carcinogenic levels in several cities, with Beersheba the worst.

An agreement between the Environment Ministry and manufacturers is inadequate, says the IUED, citing "major pollution episodes" last fall as proof. These included a malfunction at the Israel Oil Refineries in Haifa Bay that sent heavy black smoke over Haifa.

Environment Ministry officials say they are "doing their best" to fight the polluters, but are constrained by limited budget. Some firms cited in the IUED report, including the Israel Electric Corporation, are disputing its findings.

The report states that in the Negev's Ramat Hovav industrial zone, the level of carcinogenic methylane-chloride has risen 800 percent above internationally accepted levels, and that of tetrachloride -- 230 percent above.

January 26, 2004

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