Supreme Court rules Haifa ammonia tank must close
Judges say chemical storage facility must be emptied by July after government finds framework to prevent national shortage

The Supreme Court ruled on Sunday that Haifa Chemicals must close its controversial ammonia tank in Haifa by the end of July.
The court said that even though the probability of a leak is small, the damage such a leak could cause would be unbearable. In the ruling, which should be the final stage in the saga which has been ongoing for years, the judges said that, “the tank has no building permit and Haifa Chemicals is operating without a business license.”
“This is a courageous decision deserving of respect, that gives hope to more than a million residents in the Haifa Bay region,” said Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav of the decision. “I look forward to the day when the gulf will be free of any threat.”
The decision follows a decision on Sunday morning by the government on a framework that will prevent a national shortage of ammonia. The court will allow one final shipment of ammonia to be delivered to Haifa to ensure a supply of the chemical until the end of July.
The ammonia storage facility owned by Haifa Chemicals was slated to be emptied by April, but the government asked that the court give an extension 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 government requested that the court consider keeping the massive tank operating for another two years until an alternative is found.

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.
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.