Photo by Zak Bennett

As if Tel Aviv doesn’t have enough sand, dust and smog storms already.

Looking out my bedroom window one can see a luscious landscape spanning with five miles of sandy beaches, which will lead, in one direction, to the oldest port on Earth, the Arab municipality of the Jaffa Port.

If one looks in the other direction they will see a giant smoke stack called the Reading Power Station, which is approximately five blocks from my apartment- where public access is limited due to the nasty hazards associated with production.

As if Tel Aviv doesn’t have enough sand, dust and smog storms to deteriorate its air already.

The Station consists of four units with only one working today. The other three have been shutdown slowly but surely since 1967.  The reason for these shutdowns is that over the year’s environmental groups similar to Green Equations have accused the Station of causing severe pollution to the airs of Tel Aviv, which is home to approximately 2.3 million inhabitants.

In 2006 this Station was completely shutdown due to the failure to meet environmental requirements, which resulted in the Stations shift from using fuel oil to natural gases.

The Israeli national government is the force behind this mess of a structure in the center of Tel Aviv. The government wants to increase the Station’s output and then, after, reduce its environmental footprint and keep it where it is.  I wonder how quickly those reductions will take place.

The city of Tel Aviv wants this structure rebuilt outside of the city limits. So the question is, why would a country that cares for its people, in the 1^st-world, want to keep a power plant, knowingly, in a place so harmful for city inhabitants.

These are the questions that continue to boggle the informed.

A country, like Israel, that already spends so much on its inhabitants through military protection, can afford to sprinkle a little more money on the long-run and protect the health and happiness of its citizens.

I say they shutdown Reading Power Station, and turn it in to one giant club, the one thing Tel Aviv may know how to do correctly.