Ministry of Environmental Protection increases the transparency of its actions to the public In its meeting of July 27, 2009, Israel's Interministerial Committee on Discharge Permits to the Sea, headed by the deputy director of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Yitzchak Ben David, decided that holders of discharge permits to sea will be required to publish, at their own expenses, the fact of receiving the permit, the extent of the planned discharge and its location in the media. In addition, permit holders will be required to enable public access to the full permit on the internet. Environmental Protection Minister, Gilad Erdan, who supported and welcomed the decision, noted that this represents another step in the transparency which is required by the government toward the public. Minister Erdan hopes that this policy will significantly reduce the number of future applications for permits since industrial plant owners would try to avoid a public perception which views them as marine and coastal polluters. An internal team in the Ministry of Environmental Protection will consolidate, together with the Zalul Environmental Association the NGO who initiated the proposal, guidelines on the required details for publication and the wording of the notices which will be published in the newspapers. The Committee on Discharge Permits to Sea is an interministerial committee, chaired by a representative of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and including representatives of the Ministries of Health, Interior, Tourism as well as a representative
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