Supreme Court bans ammonia resupply ship from entering Haifa

Decision made in response to appeal by Haifa Group to keep massive chemical storage facility working until alternative found

The ammonia storage tank in the northern city of Haifa. (Courtesy of Environmental Protection Ministry)
The ammonia storage tank in the northern city of Haifa. (Courtesy of Environmental Protection Ministry)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday barred a delivery ship carrying ammonia to refill a massive storage tank in Haifa from entering the city’s port until it rules next week on an appeal to shut the facility.

The decision came in response to an appeal by Haifa Group, which operates the tank, against a district court ruling that the storage facility be completely emptied.

Local officials, led by Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, say that tens of thousands of people could die if the 12,000-ton-capacity tank should rupture, or if a delivery ship is hit by a missile. Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has threatened to target the tank with rockets in any future conflict with Israel.

In a Haifa District Court ruling on March 1, Judge Tamar Sharon Netanel said the potential public health crisis in Haifa necessitated the facility’s closure.

Haifa Group has argued that emptying the ammonia storage tank would “eliminate the operations of whole industrial sectors” and deal a serious blow to the local economy as well as put hundreds of workers out of a job. The chemical company is demanding government funds to offset a potentially costly move to relocate the storage facility to the Negev desert.

The court also ruled that if the state wants to bring a further ammonia delivery into Israel it must submit an affidavit listing the dangers of the shipment both from a security and a safety point of view, Channel 2 reported.

“We knew it would be a long and difficult campaign,” Yahav said. “We will not stop until the ammonia complex is completely removed from Haifa.”

The Haifa municipality submitted its petition for the closure of the ammonium storage facility following the publication of a report it commissioned earlier this year that found the port city’s ammonia operations pose a serious risk to the population.

The industrial area of Haifa Bay (photo credit: Shay Levy/Flash90)
The industrial area of Haifa Bay (Shay Levy/Flash90)

The report was also submitted to the High Court of Justice as part of the ongoing legal dispute between Haifa Group and the municipality.

The report warned that if ruptured, the vast ammonia storage tank could suffocate 16,000 victims under a toxic cloud. The tank could “fall apart tomorrow morning,” the report’s author, chemistry professor Ehud Keinan, said at a press conference to release the report on January 31, held at the municipality.

“If the tank breaks apart we are talking about 16,000 fatalities,” Keinan warned.

But an even worse danger, the report warned, is posed by a delivery ship carrying over 16,000 tons of ammonia that arrives at the Haifa container once a month. If its cargo were released to the air, it could kill as many as 600,000 in the bay area, according to Keinan.

Last year, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened to target Haifa’s ammonia facilities with rockets in the next conflict with Israel.

He quoted an unnamed Israeli official saying that a strike on the northern city’s ammonia storage tanks would cause tens of thousands of fatalities.

Following recent legal wrangling between the Haifa Group and the city, the Environmental Protection Ministry announced in February it would not renew its permit for the company’s tank.

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