Interministerial Report Urges National Oil-Spill Response System

An interministerial team recommends creating a dedicated national system to respond to large marine oil spills, with about NIS 40 million in setup costs and NIS 37 million in annual operations. The report says Israel can currently meet only about 30% of the response needed for a major spill in territorial waters, falling to roughly 10% in deep water. It proposes six maritime response units, four in the Mediterranean and two in the Red Sea, funded by fees on tankers loading or unloading oil at Israeli ports. The team estimates a major Mediterranean spill could cause up to NIS 122 billion in economic damage.