The state submitted today (Thursday) to the High Court its response in a petition by environmental organizations against the agreement signed by the government EPA with Red-Med from the United Arab Emirates, which means a significant increase in the transportation of crude oil in the Gulf of Eilat. Attached to the State’s response to the petition is a document signed jointly by Yair Pines, Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, and Naama Schultz, Director General of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, in which they state that the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s policy is “zero risk increase” in Eilat Bay. To the powers given to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
They added that although the government will not interfere in the agreement in the cap as the owner of the EPA, this does not prevent it from exercising its powers in the cap as a regulator. Need or place for further involvement.
“Despite the pressure and opposition, we were led to an environmental achievement, backed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s policy of ‘zero additional risk’ in the Gulf of Eilat,” said Minister of Environmental Protection Tamar Zandberg. “We have established a policy and will implement it in practice, which means that no additional risk will be allowed to the Gulf of Eilat, and that the volume of oil transportation in Eilat will not be increased. We will not hesitate to exercise all our powers.” , She added.
She added that “despite what the EPA may have thought, it will not be able to place facts on the ground to which the state is supposed to align. The state is not a rubber stamp. In recent months, we have carried out orderly and comprehensive work, harnessed all the relevant government ministries by our side, presented them with data and facts, and convinced them that there is no argument that could justify expanding EPA activities to transport and store oil in the Gulf of Eilat.
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The position of the State Attorney’s Office is that the government has the authority to act against the agreement signed between EPA and a company from the United Arab Emirates.
Thus, the government will not invalidate the agreement in a government decision even though Katsa is a government company. At the same time, the government will allow the Ministry of Environmental Protection to act in accordance with its full authority under the law if it has the impression that Qatsa exposes the Gulf of Eilat and the Mediterranean Sea to significant oil pollution.
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