Israel to reopen polluting power station

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JERUSALEM, June 5 (Xinhua) -- After two days of brownout across the country, Israeli Environment Minister Gideon Ezra gave a greenlight on Monday to reopen Tel Aviv's Reading Power Station, which has been closed due to a high level of pollution emission.
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    Ezra authorized the reopening of the power station at the request of the Israel Electric Company (IEC) and Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, local newspaper the Jerusalem Post reported.
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    Ezra has promised that within three weeks, the power station, which now runs on crude oil, would switch to use natural gas, according to the report.
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# G) N% o8 R+ j% Q- F( j: F; [    Ezra's decision was made on the International Environment Day and the top Israeli environment official is slated to be awarded a Green Globe for his earlier decision to close down the powerstation.

    Ezra agreed to reopen the station under immense pressure of a severe shortage of electricity supply.

    IEC initiated the brownouts on Sunday as demands for air conditioning were soaring during a continuing heat wave and some technical problems occurred.

    As power blackouts spread across Israel for the second day on Monday, one person was killed and three others were injured in two traffic accidents in the north after traffic lights went out of service due to power cuts.
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    High alert was declared in the Israeli Defense Forces information technology units and an Israeli Air Force control unit started using generators.
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    In the south, power outages temporarily disabled the Red Dawnearly warning system, which is for detecting Palestinian militant rockets and missiles. The system was functional by Monday afternoon.

  A4 S; D+ Q) p    Also on Monday, some 200 people were trapped in elevators during power cuts. In an unprecedented move, fire fighters have asked Tel Avivians not to use elevators until 6:00 a.m. (0300 GMT)on Tuesday, for fear of further disruptions in the power supply.

9 ]& R  n9 `# u' ~5 B: q0 l+ y    Meanwhile, a 68-year-old man was in serious condition in Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva on Monday, after a Sunday power outage caused his respirator to fail. Enditem
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- ~) y! O, q, fEditor: Luan Shanglin