Displaying items by tag: Nesher

Israel: Nesher-Israel Cement Enterprises has received an order from the Ministry of Environmental Protection to reduce emissions from its Ramle cement plant. BALLEG News has reported that the plant violated pollution rules over non-focal emissions and particle emissions values. Nesher-Israel Cement Enterprises also reportedly failed to submit data about defects, malfunctions and abnormal emissions, following 'several incidents.'

The producer previously paid a US$1.64m pollution fine in August 2022.

Israel: Nesher Cement has been fined US$1.9m for violations of the Clean Air Law at its cement factory in Ramla. The fine was issued for repeatedly exceeding permitted emissions limits, including for mercury/mercury compounds and particulate matter. 22 violations have been recorded since July 2022.

“The recent fine issued against the Nesher Ramla cement plant is a very welcome step forward, but it’s far from enough,” said Knesset member Alon Tal, chairman of the Subcommittee on Environmental and Climate Impacts on Health. “Just a month ago the ministry issued a permit for seven years to the factory, notwithstanding its dubious record as a serial violator of Israel’s Clean Air Law. This makes absolutely no sense.”

Local activists living near the factory were also not satisfied with the value of the fine. “The Environmental Protection Ministry has confirmed that there’s an unusual rate of cancer, especially lung cancer, in Ramla and Lod,” said Benjamin Ruggill, leader of a citizen action group, to local press.

Israel: Archaeologists have identified a new precursor species of humans dated to 130,000 years ago among discoveries from a quarry run by Nesher-Israel Cement Enterprises site at Ramla. Called Homo Nesher Ramla, the species’ antiquity and proximity to Homo Neanderthalensis suggest it as a possible ancestor of Neanderthals, according to Reuters. This would contradict previous theories of European origins of our sister species. Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University say that Homo Nesher Ramla may have lived alongside Homo Sapiens for hundreds of years at the important junction of Africa and Eurasia now occupied by modern Israel, and could have interbred with our own ancestors.

Israel: The Environmental Protection Ministry (EPM) has granted Nesher-Israel Cement Enterprises a licence to substitute more refuse-derived fuels (RDF) for petcoke than was previously permitted at its 5Mt/yr integrated Ramle, Central District cement plant. The Times of Israel newspaper has reported that the licence also allows for greater metal emissions. The company said, “As is customary in the global cement industry, the Nesher plant in Ramle uses raw materials and alternative fuels, thus achieving a number of environmental goals, including reducing landfill, minimising the use of natural resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”