"Asia Europe Oil Pipeline" Company will not be able to expand its transportation of oil in the Gulf of Eilat beyond what it is allowed

"Asia Europe Oil Pipeline Company (EPA) will not be able to expand its activities for the transportation and storage of oil in the Gulf of Eilat beyond what it is allowed to do ... Therefore, there is no need to further examine the risk surveys you submitted to our office, With these words, today (Wednesday) the Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Galit Cohen, announced to the Director General of EPA, Itzik Cohen, that the Ministry has decided to permanently stop processing EPA applications to increase the number of tankers visiting the Gulf, by virtue of the contract Signed for Emirate Oil Imports.
"After examining the professional position formulated by the director of the National Unit for the Protection of the Marine Environment, holding internal consultations with all the professional bodies concerned in my office, examining the findings of the National Monitoring Report in Eilat Bay for 2020 and the main scientific recommendations in our office." "Zero risk in the Gulf of Eilat", Cohen wrote in a letter she sent to the EPA.
"Our position, as stated to you from the moment you announced the expansion of your activities, was and still is that the implementation of the agreement will significantly increase the environmental risks to the residents of the State of Israel at sea and on land," Cohen added in the letter. This, while responding to EPA's allegations that the ministry first supported the deal - and then changed its position with the appointment of Zandberg as minister.
"The professional position formulated by the director of the national unit for the protection of the marine environment in my office is that, from an environmental point of view, it is not possible to allow an increase in the volume of oil transportation in Eilat," Cohen wrote. "Such an increase, which involves a significant increase in the number of tankers in the Gulf of Eilat, could harm critical and irreversible damage to the marine environment in the Gulf of Eilat, which is a unique area at an international level and has a very high ecological sensitivity, due to unavoidable oil spills. "Absolutely."