Next Sunday, Deputy Minister of the Environment MK Ofir Akunis will submit to the government a plan for restoring the Arava and the Evrona nature reserve, following the oil spill at Beer Ora. According to the proposal, the government will allocate NIS 17 million and additional personnel for treatment of the polluted land and rehabilitation for the affected animal population.
An administration will be set up to oversee and monitor the rehabilitation efforts and submit a report on its actions according to a plan to be approved by the Ministry of the Environment. The plan will include environmental surveys to test the environmental effects in the Arava and Gulf of Eilat, handling of advanced land restoration technologies, rehabilitation of animals in danger of extinction affected by the oil spill, and construction of bridges for animals to cross over the Arava road.
Adam Teva V'Din Executive Director Adv. Amit Bracha said, "The decision-makers' proposal ignores the direct responsibility of the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company for the ecological disaster, denies the principle that the polluter pays, does not impose a duty to give guarantees for prevention of events of this type in the future, and does not affect Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline's covert behavior, so that a similar or even worse disaster is likely to occur again tomorrow morning, this time near population centers."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 25, 2014
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