Israeli environmentalists have stepped up their campaign to prevent Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) from opening a new phosphate mine near the southern city of Arad. Residents of the city and nearby communities have petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice to order Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military advisor, Yohanan Loker, to refrain from intervening with Health Ministry officials over the mine. The petition called the involvement of the military secretary “foreign and irrelevant consideration in a decision on the risk factor.” The opponents of the mine also asked the government to release a report commissioned by the prime minister’s office on the impact of phosphate mining.
A Health Ministry report to the Southern District Planning Commission estimated that pollution from the proposed mine could cause several deaths a year, most notably due to cancer and respiratory problems. The ministry said it has appointed an additional expert to investigate the matter and will release a report in the coming weeks.
ICL subsidiary Rotem Amfert is planning to operate the mine at the Barir field, located just 4 kilometers from Arad. Rotem Amfert is interested in developing the field because of the exhaustion of other sites and the ease of mining phosphates at the proposed sites. ICL said that there are no health risks connected with mining at the Barir field. However, the company stressed that it would refrain from operations there if it turns out that an objective examination concludes there is a risk. ICL stressed that thousands of families in the region directly or indirectly make a living from the local phosphate industry.