Haifa Plant Work Halted Following Repeated Benzene Emissions
Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry halted maintenance at Haifa's Gadiv plant following benzene spikes, as the municipality renewed temporary permits under strict conditions.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection has ordered an immediate halt to all maintenance and renovation work at the Gadiv petrochemical plant in Haifa Bay following repeated benzene emissions and an appeal by Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav. The suspension will remain in effect until the circumstances surrounding the latest emission event on October 22 are fully investigated.
The decision follows Yahav's insistent demands for stringent measures against industrial facilities amid recurring benzene spikes and mounting public health concerns. The latest incident involved a daily concentration of 3.93 micrograms per cubic meter of the carcinogenic compound measured at the Kiryat Benjamin monitoring station in Kiryat Ata, just days after maintenance works had resumed under strict oversight.
Permit Extensions and Postponed Hearings
In response to the halted operations, the Haifa Municipality agreed to a request from the Bazan Group to postpone a crucial licensing hearing by 30 days to allow for comprehensive technical reviews. Concurrently, temporary operational permits for Bazan, Carmel Olefins, and Gadiv have been renewed for a strict 60-day period, conditioned on rigorous compliance protocols and the submission of detailed operational procedures.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav emphasized the municipality's unwavering stance on public safety, stating: "We will not allow the health of Haifa and Bay residents to be compromised. I demanded decisive action from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and I welcome the decision to halt work at Gadiv. This is an important step, but not the end of the road. Resident health takes precedence over all else."
The recent pollution events have heightened scrutiny over the industrial zone, following previous benzene spikes that prompted school closures in Kiryat Ata and an administrative order issued against Gadiv on October 14. Environmental authorities noted that such daily threshold breaches had not been recorded at the Kiryat Benjamin station for several years.
