The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday approved an environmental law that will require factories to publicize their hazardous chemical emissions. But it also rejected two other green bills, a spokesman for MK Dov Khenin (Hadash – the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel) announced.

The approved National Registry Act, formulated by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (Adam Teva V’Din) will require the establishment of databases that detail which substances are being discharged into the air and the exact locations of these chemical emissions.

Such a system is currently being used by 39 countries per OECD standards, according to a statement from the Israel Union for Environmental Defense. The registries will be updated annually according to rules set forth by the Environment Protection Ministry.

“Residents of the State of Israel are suffering from environmental hazards and health difficulties that are gushing from the release of dangerous chemicals into the air, in the water and on the land,” said the Adam Teva V’Din executive director, Amit Bracha. “Registry of emissions and the removal of dangerous chemicals will help reduce pollution in Israel and will enable the advancement of sustainable policies, take into account developmental and environmental needs and protect public health.”

The two other proposed laws would have promoted the right of students and pupils to study in environments free of environmental hazards and would have amended the 1952 Petroleum Law to include more environmentally procedures. They were rejected in the same meeting. “Maintaining the anachronistic Petroleum Law reveals a serious error,” Khenin said.

“We must guarantee that crises like the one in the Gulf of Mexico will not occur in the Mediterranean Sea,” he said. “An oil spill in the Mediterranean would be a tremendous environmental catastrophe, and Israel does not have the tools or the knowledge to cope with a crisis like this. Unfortunately, Israel specializes in the establishment of investigative committees following disasters, but fails in terms of preventing them.”

Today is the environment’s day as the Knesset will be observing its own “Environment Day”. The event was organized jointly by the Social-Environmental Lobby in the Knesset, leads’ by MK Khenin, and Life and Environment – the umbrella organization for all Israeli environmental organizations.

A special discussion will be held at noon by the Social-Environmental Lobby regarding natural resources. The discussion will address a variety of practical issues related to the usage and distribution of Israel’s natural resources, including: gas, oil, phosphates, water, and sand.

In addition, the Chairman of the Knesset, MK Rubi Rivlin, and other Knesset members will meet with a delegation of Friends of the Earth – Middle East an organization that unites residents of Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority. They will discuss ways to properly and justly manage communal water resources such as the Dead Sea, Jordan River, and mountain aquifer.