Israel on Tuesday began preliminary pumping of gas from a lucrative field in the Mediterranean Sea to its coastline rig, just days before it is to sign a a major pipeline deal with Greece and Cyprus.
The start of the so-called "flushing process" took place after repeated delays due to legal challenges from wary Israeli residents who remain skeptical of the grandiose project that Israel vows will wean it off coal and revolutionize the economy by turning the country from an energy importer to an unlikely exporter.
More recently, local activists have been urging Israel's Delek Drilling and its U.S. partner, Noble Energy, to move a proposed shoreline treatment gas rig farther out to sea. The activists fear what they call the catastrophic consequences of spreading toxic water and air pollution toward their homes.
Delek, Noble and the Israeli government insist that the most stringent safety measures have been put in place, and accuse their critics of waging an irresponsible scare campaign. The leaders of Cyprus, Greece and Israel plan to sign an agreement on Thursday for the building of the eastern Mediterranean natural gas pipeline, which will run across the Mediterranean from Israel's Levantine Basin offshore gas reserves to the Greek island of Crete and the Greek mainland, and then to Italy.
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