Environmental organizations warn: the elimination of the citizen protection system under the guise of streamlining regulation

The "Efficiency of Regulation" chapter included in the economic plan that will be brought to the government's decision tomorrow (13.5.13), may eliminate the systems that protect Israeli citizens in a variety of areas, including: workers' rights, health, work environment, construction, education, safety and more.

Naor Yerushalmi, CEO of Haim and Environment. From his Twitter page
Naor Yerushalmi, CEO of Haim and Environment. From his Twitter page

The American Republican curse, according to which every rule or regulation is a disaster, is also coming to Israel. On the part of the tycoons that we eat horse meat, that we live ten years less because of pollution, and that we don't install solar collectors (because their initial cost is high even though they later help save much more).

The environmental organizations warn that the "Efficiency of Regulation" chapter included in the economic plan that will be submitted to the government's decision tomorrow (13.5.13) may eliminate the systems that protect the citizens of Israel in a variety of areas, including: workers' rights, health, work environment, construction, education, safety and more .

According to Naor Yerushalmi, CEO of Haim and Environment - the umbrella organization of environmental organizations in Israel, "the proposal is an all-out attack on the norms that have been developed over the years in all these areas in regulations and laws and on the professional authority and independence of the government ministries entrusted with the protection of the citizen." According to him, under the misleading title 'Efficiency of regulatory mechanisms', a dangerous proposal is hidden, which will allow the government to eliminate mechanisms of protection of the public against far-reaching social, health and environmental harms.

The environmental organizations met on this issue today with the Minister of Environmental Protection Amir Peretz and with the chairman of the environmental lobby in the Knesset Dov Hanin. The organizations addressed the issue to the relevant government ministries, as well as to social organizations operating in these fields.

What is at stake?

Below are possible examples of areas that may be affected if the proposal is accepted tomorrow:

A green construction device that can save thousands of shekels a year in energy costs in apartments.
The supervision of health hazards in the work environment such as toxic gases in gas stations.
The supervision of labor laws and workers' rights.
The supervision of drinking water pollution.
The supervision of public transportation services and other consumer protection services.
Implementation of the Clean Air Act and protection of public health.
The Finance proposal crowns these and other protection mechanisms with the false title of "regulatory burden", and demands that every regulation (law, regulation and instruction) be subject to economic considerations of "promoting growth and competition in the economy". In addition, it is proposed to replace supervision and control of the state institutions and public systems with "self-regulation", that is, to allow the business entities to supervise themselves, in other words - privatization of supervision.

The proposal aims to effectively abolish the professional independence of the labor market supervision systems, the ministries of environmental protection, health, education and welfare, and subordinate them to the "Committee of Ministers for Regulation" chaired by the Prime Minister, which will replace the professional bodies in regards to deciding what regulations are required and will serve as the supreme authority - Both regarding the regulation that exists today and regarding any regulation that will come up in the future.
The definition "let the cats keep the cream" was written exactly for such a scenario, and it is not for nothing that the representatives of the manufacturers and other interested parties enthusiastically support the process. This is a far-reaching move of the actual dismantling of the citizen protection mechanisms, which will allow the capitalists to promote their affairs without the unnecessary burden of transparency and democratic control. In order to protect the citizen, Israel needs to maintain and strengthen the mechanisms for the protection of the citizen through effective, stronger and more focused regulation, and not to sterilize and weaken the citizen's last safety net to the point of actually canceling it.

The environmental organizations emphasized that correct and effective regulation has clear social, health, environmental and economic benefits, but the government chooses to go in the opposite direction, ignores them, and works to remove obstacles and gradually eliminate the existing regulation.

The message is shared by the following organizations:

Life and Environment - the umbrella organization of environmental organizations in Israel

Heschel Center for Sustainability

The Israeli Green Building Council

Greenpeace Mediterranean

Transportation today and tomorrow

The Israeli Energy Forum

clear

15 minutes

Citizens for the environment

The Coalition for Public Health

Association of Public Health Physicians

Comments

  1. Wind energy is net environmental pollution.

    Making wind turbines is a polluting process
    And they themselves kill birds and spoil the landscape.

    They do not save electricity almost at all
    Because a coal-fired power plant still needs to be operated.
    What the public does not know is that the most important parameter in a power plant
    is the guaranteed minimum amount of electricity
    And this is very low for a wind farm, only about 4% of the average.

    You can't turn on coal-fired power plants whenever there's wind
    Because the process of turning them off and on takes many hours.

    Also, wind farms generate electricity mainly at night
    At the time the word consumption is low
    And the coal-fired power plants, which, as mentioned, cannot be turned off, produce above and beyond what is required.

    Furthermore, wind farms are a way to milk money from the tax paying public
    For the benefit of the tycoons and those close to the government.

    The state pays 20 times per kWh produced by wind energy
    than the same kWh produced by a coal station.

  2. There is not one universally correct statement in this entire article
    that they are carrying out socialist propaganda.

    The tycoons are not opposed to taxes and regulation.
    Because they use it to eliminate competition.

    They just employ the regulators
    And in return, the regulators issue regulations
    which do not help the citizen at all
    And sometimes they even hurt him
    But they raise the fixed expense of every business in the industry
    And so they effectively eliminate small competitors.

    It's not for nothing that Warren Buffett wants more taxes.

    for example,
    Each supervises the banks
    After completing his position, he received a senior position in the banking system
    Except for Lehmann, who was dismissed during his tenure
    by the governor of the Bank of Israel at the time
    Because he faithfully served the interests of the citizens
    at the bank's expense.

  3. Amos-
    It is clear that the insulation of the apartment will affect its ownership - he will be able to rent an insulated apartment for more money than a non-insulated apartment.
    The question is how soon the apartment insulating oil recovers its cost - so basically it should pay off - if the landlord is left with a slightly higher salary - but less than the average cost of the heating and air conditioning - then both parties benefit in the end.

  4. Another one - because the person who builds the apartment and the person who lives in it and absorbs the additional costs are not the same person, and apartments are already such an expensive matter that it is not certain that the person who buys the apartment would be able to afford it (unless he has means far beyond what most citizens have ) and it is not certain that he will care if he is not going to live in it himself but, let's say, rent it to someone (that he will be the one who pays a more expensive electricity bill because of the construction).

  5. Is there any concrete claim for a relevant section or is it just hot air from kikionic and semi-kikyonic organizations?
    example:
    "A green construction device that can save thousands of shekels a year in energy expenses in apartments"
    If green construction saves money - why won't people invest in such construction themselves?

  6. Since when can a normal and competitive economy even run when one percent owns 99 percent of the capital.

    They work on us straight in the eyes.

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