Government seeks new delay of Haifa ammonia tank closure

The government on Wednesday asked the High Court of Justice to issue another injunction delaying the court-ordered closure of a controversial ammonia storage tank in the northern city of Haifa.

In its request to the court, the government asked that the emptying of the ammonia storage facility owned by Haifa Chemicals, which was slated to be carried out this month, be delayed until June in order to allow fertilizer companies that rely on the ammonia time to prepare for its closure and prevent “a possible shutdown of the fertilizer industry in Israel.”

The request came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Monday with Economy Minister Eli Cohen and Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin, as well as representatives of other government ministries, and asked them to consider keeping the massive tank operating for another two years until an alternative is found, the government said in its request.

Following reports on Monday about the new delay request, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav accused Netanyahu of endangering the lives of the residents of the Haifa area “for the needs of a major tycoon.”

“To my great sorrow, the prime minister abandoned a million and a half people, their security, for the needs of a major tycoon from Miami Beach at the expense of the health and security of the residents here,” Army Radio quoted him as saying on Tuesday in a reference to Jules Trump, owner of Haifa Chemicals.

Netanyahu’s office has rejected claims that the prime minister’s acquaintance with Jules Trump influenced his position on the issue.

“Netanyahu has not spoken with Jules Trump for over a year, and has not spoken with him about the tank at all. The delay that was discussed today is for a number of weeks and not two years, and that is in order to find a way to prevent the firing of thousands of workers” as a result of the tank’s closure, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Monday.

Local officials, led by Yahav, say that tens of thousands of people could die if the 12,000-ton-capacity tank should rupture, and that even more would be at risk if a monthly delivery ship that brings ammonia to the massive tank from abroad is hit by a missile.

The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has threatened to target the tank with rockets in any future conflict with Israel. A Haifa District Court order requires that the tank be emptied and shut down by the end of next month.

Yesh Atid party leader MK Yair Lapid, who has voiced his support for the tank’s closure, said on Tuesday that efforts by Netanyahu to delay the emptying of the ammonia storage facility were “dangerous.”

“The prime minister’s attempt to torpedo the emptying of the ammonia tank are dangerous and it is difficult to understand his motives,” he wrote on Facebook.

“During three terms [as prime minister] he did not think it was his job to intervene, while the largest bomb in the Middle East continues to endanger the residents of Haifa and its suburbs.”

In 2013, the government decided to shut down the ammonia tank in Haifa Bay by 2017 and to set up a new production plant in the Negev instead, out of concerns for the safety of the citizens of Haifa. The government also committed to ensuring a continuous supply of the compound until the new production plant was up and running.

Following the publication of a report commissioned by the city of Haifa that found the ammonia operations posed a serious risk to the population, a court ordered the closure of the tank where the ammonia is stored after arriving by ship in Haifa Bay. A tender to set up the new plant in the Negev failed in 2016 due to a lack of bidders, delaying the opening of any new facility indefinitely.

Earlier this month the High Court temporarily banned delivery ships from bringing more ammonia to resupply the tank.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.