The Environmental Protection Ministry has summoned Director General Avner Maimon of the Israel Oil Refineries Group to a hearing following the failure of the Carmel Olefins plant which has led to a continuous discharge of gas from its chimneys in Haifa, which peaked at 25 tons per hour, earlier this month.
By the end of the incident black smoke was observed accumulating for more than 5 minutes, in violation of the plant's emission permit. There were problems in two other facilities, which led to a discharge of 7 tons. A day after these incidents, a malfunction occurred which led to the discharge of 35 tons of gas.