IUED has filed a formal planning objection in response to the deposit of detailed construction plans for two additional coal fired units at the Israel Electric Corporation's Rutenberg D power plant in Ashkelon. The IEC plans to build two new coal-fired units (630 MW each), despite the imminent entry into the energy market of cleaner natural gas.
Our objections relate to the physical planning and placement of the new units. Deposit of the plans opens the door to a second, parallel front in the ongoing and long-disputed struggle to prevent further investment in coal-fired energy production.
High Court of Justice petition
In June 2008, the National Infrastructures Committee (“NIC”) approved plans for two additional coal fired units at the Israel Electric Corporation's Rutenberg D power plant. The approval came in the face of strong protest by local authorities in Ashkelon and surrounding communities, and a united opposition from environmental organizations.
In response IUED (in partnership with Green Course) petitioned the High Court of Justice demanding full review of the environmental and public health risk implications of additional coal-fired units in Ashkelon, and requesting full transparency on how the NIC reached its decision despite concerted opposition from so many public and official entities
Background
IUED has been working for half a decade to block the continued reliance on coal in general and to promote Israeli investment in newer, cleaner fuels. The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) will be spending over a billion dollars on construction of a new coal-fired power plant in Ashkelon, on the southern coastal plain, despite the pending entry into the energy market of cleaner natural gas. IUED's position is shared by local authorities in Ashkelon and the surrounding areas who wish to protect inhabitants from increased exposure to air pollution.
The Environment Ministry and experts on air quality are strongly opposed to the coal-fired plant, which would have significant long-term ramifications on public health and the local environment. IUED is demanding an immediate halt to plans to add two coal-powered electricity generation units to the four coal-powered units already operating in the Rutenberg power plant in Ashkelon on Israel's southern coastal plain.
IUED has renewed its call on the government to scrap the plans in a favor of a policy aimed at substantially reducing CO2 emissions and developing renewable energy sources. Increasing the use of coal as a power generation fuel goes against promotion of a sustainable economy in Israel, and increases public health risks at a time when the government is promoting major new legislation to reduce air pollution (the IUED-drafted Clean Air Bill).
A public health threat
Energy production via coal combustion, which is being phased out elsewhere in the country, produces a plethora of pollutant emissions including particulates, carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, as well as coal ash, gypsum and flue gas residues. Coal-fired electricity production releases 50 times more sulphur dioxide and seven times more particulate pollution per kilowatt-hour of electricity than natural gas.
The Environmental Protection Ministry has called for all of Israel's existing coal-fired power plants to be fitted with pollution reduction equipment, a process that requires the plants to be shut down for a period. Pushing back the decision A series of IUED court petitions has succeeded in delaying the approval process, but interested parties are continuing to push the Ashkelon expansion plans through to implementation.
In 2001, IUED petitioned the High Court of Justice in protest at the Infrastructure Ministry's approval of the coal-fired plant, and the court issued an interim injunction blocking the plan until the government justified its position. In December 2003, the government responded to the court, claiming that the IEC plans had been revised and upgraded to include the latest pollution controls.
The IEC's plan for a coal-fired power station was then submitted by the Infrastructure Ministry for review by the National Infrastructures Committee (the controversial fast track for major infrastructure projects that bypasses many of the established environmental and public overview safeguards).
In November 2004, the Infrastructure Ministry announced that the target date for opening the Ashkelon plant would be postponed from 2008 to 2012. Its public announcement cited "interventions by environmental organizations" as the source of the delay.
An open debate?
The National Infrastructures Committee held a one-day public hearing on the issue in late January 2008 that was closed to the media. Non-governmental organizations where given a few minutes to represent the public interest.
IUED attorney Tamar Gannot of the Clean Air Now team comments,"This 'expanded forum' had an unbalanced agenda: Representatives of the IEC and Infrastructure Ministry delivered long presentations, but public representatives were allotted only 10 minutes each."
IUED's position is that the so-called public hearing is typical of the transparency challenges posed by the fast-track National Infrastructures Committee.
Gannot: "For example, the NIC allots only 30 days for the public to hand in objections to its decisions on mega projects of national importance, while there are 60 days granted for appealing all other, routine planning authorities' decisions."
During the discussions, IUED representatives criticized the project's Environmental Impact Assessment published in mid-January 2008.
"The document was grossly insufficient. It failed to address health impacts, referred only to a 12-mile radius, hardly mentioned certain pollutants and overlooked the potentially severe implications of mercury, for which no standards exist in Israel and which is not monitored."
Attorney Gannot restated IUED's stance during the hearing. "First and foremost, Israel must take steps towards energy conservation and efficiency. We are arguing to lower demand rather than increase supply, while pushing for alternatives such as gas-powered plants."
Adjusting supply to meet demand Electricity use in Israel has climbed steadily in recent years, as has the IEC's electricity-generating capacity that now exceeds 50 million kWh. Consumption peaked during a summer 2007 heat wave, and again during a January 2008 cold snap, necessitating limited power cuts in some areas of the country. At present rates, electricity consumption generating capacity will double by 2025, and greenhouse gas emissions will increase by 40% by 2020.
Alternative energy sources
Imported coal is the primary fuel of Israel's power stations: In 2005, 74.7 percent of the country's electrici
ty was produced from coal, 11.5 percent from gas, 8.5 percent from crude oil, 5.3 percent from kerosene, and only 0.2 percent from renewable sources.
The IEC, one of the largest industrial companies in Israel, owns and operates 17 power stations around the country. In July 2006, the Reading D Power Station in Tel Aviv joined the Eshkol power station in Ashdod in generating electricity by natural gas, and the IEC produced 18% of its electricity by natural gas that year. According to the IEC, some 40% of its electricity capacity is expected to be generated by natural gas by the end of the decade.
The way ahead – fewer greenhouse gases
Fossil fuel-based power plants already account for 63 percent of CO2 emissions in Israel, and the proposed Ashkelon plant would increase CO2 emissions by 10.5 percent. Israel has ratified international protocols targeted at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including the Kyoto Protocol and agreements reached at last year's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali. Under the Bali roadmap, Israel’s recognition as a developed country could be pending in 2009 – yet the country remains far from reaching the targets set out for developed economies.
"Investment in additional coal-fired power plants at this time goes against the government’s own policies and targets, warns attorney Gannot.”Israel will be obligated to pay for every ton of greenhouse gasses it produces above targets, but this is not being taken into consideration by the decision makers."
