02/09 Israel Says 'No' to US Co. Toxic Sludge in Med.

[the.greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org]

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Original-TO:      World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-Cc:      The Greenbase (Green2:Green2:Gnl:Main)
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               GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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>> ISRAEL SAYS 'NO' TO A POLLUTING US-OWNED PLANT
 
TEL AVIV, Israel, February 9, 1996 (GP) Greenpeace today
welcomed the Israeli decision to reject  plans by a US company
to divert its toxic sludge directly into the Mediterranean
Sea.
 
Israeli Environmental Minister Yossi Sarid yesterday finally
rejected a plan of the US-owned "Haifa Chemicals" to construct
a pipe that would channel the factory's toxic effluents into
Haifa Bay. The producer of chemical fertilisers now dumps most
of its toxic effluents into the Kishon river near the sea port
of Haifa in northern Israel. 
 
Sarid based his decision on a scientific report that
concluded: "A 2.2 km long pipe of Haifa Chemicals effluents
with their current contents is not recommended." The minister
then said that he will not allow the factory to build a pipe
into the sea.
 
The planned pipe was to pump about 270 cubic meters of
effluents per hour -enough to fill more than three Olympic
pools every day. The "cocktail" of toxics would be highly
acidic and  include heavy metals like cadmium, nickel and
zinc. (2)
  
"The minister set a precedent by showing for the first time
that Israel is mature enough to prioritise the environment
over short sighted profits," said Ory Zik of the Greenpeace
Mediterranean Office in Tel Aviv. "Greenpeace has been
campaigning against the pipe since 1994. Sarid's decision is a
success for the environmental movement in the Mediterranean
region."
  
"Greenpeace supports plans to clean up the Kishon by
implementing clean technologies, and not by channelling the

pollution directly into the Mediterranean Sea," said Zik.
 
Dr. Mario Damato, Executive Director of the Greenpeace
Mediterranean Office in Malta, appealed to all Mediterranean
countries to follow Israel's example and implement steps
towards limiting land based sources of pollution.   
Haifa Chemicals is part of the heavy industrial complex along
the banks of the river Kishon, by far the most polluted river
in Israel. A survey conducted last year by Greenpeace showed a
wide variety of toxic heavy metals and organic pollutants in
the river. A large portion of these chemicals can be
attributed to Haifa Chemicals. 
 
An additional 50,000 tones of highly toxic sludge are dumped
every year by the Haifa Chemicals ship "Aribel" in
international waters in the Mediterranean.  In May 1995,
Greenpeace activists stopped the ship from dumping and made
this environmental scandal internationally known. Shortly
afterwads, Minister Yossi Sarid promised Greenpeace in a
letter to forbid the dumping in 1996.  
For further information please call in Israel Ory Zik, 
++972-52433694 or Tirtsa Kisch, ++972-3-6850739; or Dr. Mario
Damato, Executive Director Greenpeace Mediterranean in Malta,
Tel  ++356-803484.
 
Attn. Editors: You can order from Ory Zik or Tirtsa Kisch the
Greenpeace Mediterranean factsheet "Cleaning after Haifa
Chemicals - Wrong Solution to Heavy Pollution". Video and
photo material are also available.  
NOTES:
 
1) Haifa Chemicals was established in 1967.  It is ranked
among the 21 leading industrial enterprises in Israel. The
company's annual turnover is about 200 million dollars. Haifa
Chemicals is the worlds largest producer of potassium nitrate
that is mainly used for fertilisers. Such fertilisers have led
to an increase in the mobility of nitrogen and phosphorus in
farmland, ground waters and rivers. The result is a major
factor in algae bloom considered one of the major problems of
the Mediterranean and other seas all over the world.  
 2) The pipe was a part of a 50 Million USD plan to clean and
rehabilitate the Kishon river. The factories plan to channel
its effluents from the river into the bay would have created a
new pollution hot spot and possibly an irreversible damage  to
the marine ecosystem in the bay. 
 

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