Budget for Galilee asbestos removal doubled

Posted by admin on Jan 4, 2012 in Latest News | Comments Off

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) has doubled his ministry’s
budget for asbestos removal to NIS 40 million per year in an attempt to
eradicate within the next two years the material that plagues the lungs of
northern residents.

Erdan made the decision after touring Nahariya with
its mayor on Tuesday, where he witnessed firsthand the process and work that
goes into removing the dangerous substance, his office said on
Wednesday.

“Every day that we advance the project, a human life is saved,
and therefore, we doubled the budget designated for this year in order to double
the pace of executing the hazard’s removal,” Erdan said in a statement released
by his office.

“This is a life-saving project that is undertaken through
the leading professional standards in the world.”

The Environmental
Protection Ministry first began its asbestosremoval program last April in the
Western Galilee, in which asbestos industrial waste is scattered over about
150,000 cubic meters of land, originating from the Etanit factory in Nahariya.
Some of the waste had been used as bases for roads and paths in the region, many
of which are now crumbling with asbestos exposed on their
surfaces.

Removing all of the asbestos from the area is expected to cost
about NIS 300 million, and would originally encompass about five years. In
addition to funds from the Environmental Protection Ministry, the project also
receives financing from the local authorities as well as from the Etanit
company, which is obliged by the April 2011 Asbestos Hazards Prevention Law to
pay NIS 150,000 of the costs, according to the ministry. Doubling the budget
coming from the Environment Ministry is expected to shorten the duration of the
project, with completion achieved as early as 2014.

The Etanit portion of
the funding is not guaranteed, however, as the company has filed a petition to
the High Court of Justice about the matter, the ministry said. But during
Erdan’s meetings with local residents and mayors, he also requested that Etanit
co-owner Mickey Federman, who also owns the Dan hotel chain, remove his petition
and abide by the asbestos law.

Since the inception of the law, the
ministry has overseen asbestos eradication at 36 sites – 14.14 million cubic
meters worth of waste – at a total cost of NIS 30 million, the office said.

Article source: http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=252256