Ambient Air Non-Proof
- The expert opinions on behalf of the applicants did not relate at all to the environmental air (in the residential environment) that the residents of the Bay Area actually breathe (each in his own place of residence), as opposed to the air emitted from the chimneys. Prof. Grotto's various appendices also do not address this issue in detail and explicitly, along with the other failures listed in the position paper as detailed above.
- The term "environmental air" is not explicitly defined in the Clean Air Law or in the Prevention of Environmental Hazards Law (Civil Claims). The Clean Air Act defines the term "air" broadly: "including all the layers of the atmosphere that surround the earth" (Section 2 Risha), so this definition can be seen as actually referring to the ambient air.
- As stated above, for the purpose of defining "air pollution", the Law for the Prevention of Environmental Hazards refers to the Clean Air Law, in which section 2 states, inter alia, that the reference is to "the presence in the air of a pollutant, including such presence that constitutes a deviation from air quality values, or the emission of a pollutant that constitutes a deviation from emission values". The Clean Air Law prohibits causing strong or unreasonable air pollution, and states that emissions of pollutants contrary to its provisions is a civil tort. Air pollution can be considered unreasonable even without a formal deviation from standards, if it harms human health or causes real suffering (see section 3 of the law).
- The Clean Air Law refers to "air quality values" as "values determined under section 6 of the law, including "target values, environmental values, warning values and reference values." These values constitute objective measures of ambient air quality.
- In summary, it should be noted that Liviki, in her first opinion (July 1, 2016), clarified, inter alia, in clause 3.2 of the heading "Ambient Air Quality Standards" that "...Most developed countries set quality standards for pollutants that are considered harmful to public health and the environment. Determination of which types of pollutants have air quality standards varies from country to country, but almost all developed countries have standards for ozone and pollutants that are a direct product of combustion.." (p. 4). The expert went on to note that in the Israeli regulatory system, there are three levels of air quality standards: target values, environmental values, and warning values. When the target values are ambitious and are used to establish a national plan to reduce air pollution. (Page 5 above).
- In section 3 titled "Air Quality and Health", the expert noted, among other things, that the ambient air concentrations measured reflect concentrations of pollutants in the air to which people may be exposed, and if they are in the area "...which the monitor is representative" (page 5 in the middle).
- In paragraph 7 of her opinion (in English), Libiki detailed the sources/references that she used to prepare her opinion, including reports of the "Haifa District Municipal Association for Environmental Protection" for the years 1991-999 and 2005-2015 (pages 28-29) as well as reports of the "Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection (MOE)" for the years 2005-2015, as well as a document of this body as of December 2014, and documents relating to the "Air Quality Monitoring Trends Report" of this body for the years 2001-2013 and a report on the state of air quality for 2014 (pages 29-30).
- In Tables 4-5-4-7, the expert compared the environmental air quality monitored in Haifa with data in Israel, the United States, and the European Union in the years 2005-2006, 2009, and 2013-2014. In the many diagrams (2-4 - 4-64), the expert examined and compared many measurement data in relation to Haifa, to concentrations of various materials, and in comparison with the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
- The expert's conclusions in light of the analysis she conducted, and as detailed in paragraph 6 of her opinion, were, inter alia, that the monitoring chain in Haifa is dense and follows a large array of chemicals, because the values relevant to the measurement are long-term environmental air concentrations , which are relevant for examining the potential risks and not short-term air concentrations. In its opinion, the Haifa Monitoring Network shows that the concentrations of pollutants in Haifa are similar to or lower than those measured in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, that the emission of primary pollutants in Haifa to the industrial air has decreased significantly since there is documentation (from 1985), that SO2 emissions have decreased by 98% since 1985 and by about 80% from 1985 to 2005, and that the environmental air concentrations of most of the main pollutants, with the exception of PM10 and PM2.5, have decreased since the documentation was carried out and until 2001 until the date of the opinion (2016). The expert notes that in the period 2005-2013, the environmental air quality in Haifa, as reflected in the average annual air concentrations of the criterion pollutants, was usually found to meet the air quality standards in Israel [and even of the European Union and the United States], with the exception of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations, which exceeded the environmental and target values, and these deviations are apparently a result of the Israeli climate and proximity to the desert.
- Thus, for example, and similarly, the introduction to Exhibit M/19 also states "Main Findings of the Trend Report of Air Quality Monitoring for the Years 2001-2013", inter alia, that "... The background concentration of PM2.5 in Israel is high at 20 μg/m3 and stems from Israel's geographical location near the deserts of Arabia and North Africa, but also from the transport of PM2.5 particles from Europe" (ibid., p. 1930).
- This was also seen in Libiki's supplementary opinion (October 2020), which referred to 'ambient air', the sources of information mentioned on page 2 in the middle, and the various figures (figures ) 4-36, which analyze the state of ambient air from various and comparative aspects.
- Livki testified that "...My opinion speaks of the air quality in Haifa compared to other cities." She was asked and clarified in relation to her opinion that:
Adv. Mr. A. Amorai: Why didn't you pay attention to it? For the Monitors in the Yards, Factory Yards? I mean, I'm telling you.