Israel Energy Initiatives, Ltd., a subsidiary of Genie Energy Ltd. (GNE), said Monday that the Supreme Court of Israel has rejected a petition filed by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense against various ministries of the State of Israel, Israel Energy Initiatives and another Israeli oil and gas company, seeking to cancel the regulations governing the permitting process of oil and gas exploration, and seeking to cancel the exploration license granted to Israel Energy Initiatives.
In October, the court had rejected a previous petition filed by the Union challenging the issuance of exploratory licenses, including Israel Energy Initiatives' license, issued pursuant to those regulations.
" The court's latest decision clears a major legal roadblock and enables this nationally important project to move forward to the permitting phase.," Israel Energy Initiatives said in a statement.
Israel Energy Initiatives said that it now looks forward to the issuance of regulations by the Ministry of Energy that will enable it to prepare the environmental documents needed to file its pilot test permit application with the Jerusalem District Planning Committee.
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