ICL Group Ltd.’s phosphate subsidiary ICL Rotem (formerly Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd.) faces further postponement of its plans to mine phosphate ore at the Sde Brir site in southern Israel’s Negev Desert.
Objections by ultra-Orthodox parties in the nearby city of Arad, home to a large Haredi population, over concerns about air pollution at the potential site and delays in the regulation of Bedouin settlements in the area, have led the Israeli government to postpone debates on the matter indefinitely, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported.
Local Bedouins, Arad residents, and environmental groups have fought against the mining plan for years over fears that mining phosphate will pollute the area and damage health.
The Israeli government in late 2021 reversed planning approval for the new mine, officially reporting its decision after an appeal by Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg (GM Jan. 7, 2022). However, media reports at the time, citing unnamed government sources, said the United Arab List party also played a role in the decision to suspend the project.
The Israeli government earlier this year drew up a draft resolution for the national planning and construction council to set guidelines for an environmental impact survey of Sde Brir. The survey was to be conducted by the Energy Ministry and submitted to planning bodies for approval as soon as possible.
The discussion on the draft resolution, which was to be held a month ago, has now been postponed, however, with no new date set after ministers from Haredi parties, including Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, opposed the plant, according to the report.
The Office of Israel’s Prime Ministers has indicated that it intends to bring the draft resolution for approval at “a future date” in order “to instruct the planning authorities to continue with the planning process.”
Israeli environmental groups have long cited the toll ICL’s subsidiaries have taken on the local environment, particularly as a result of ICL Rotem’s phosphate activities in the Negev Desert as well as the alleged contribution of ICL Dead Sea Works at Sdom to the rapid decline of the Dead Sea.