Israel advances shutdown of polluting petrochemical plants

A proposal published April 26 recommends shutting down entirely petrochemical activities at Haifa Bay. An interministerial committee of the National Economic Council at the prime minister’s office recommended closing down the petrochemical and fertilizer industries in the bay as soon as possible. No specific date was mentioned in the proposal, but the committee recommended the closing should be achieved within the next decade.

Still, head of the National Economic Council Avi Simhon told the press after the publication of the proposal that he would like to see the shutting done happening within five to six years, and would consider it a failure if the operation takes as along as a decade.