ICL Group Ltd. Subsidiary ICL Rotem, along with two Israeli oil refineries, has topped the country’s list of worst environmental offenders.
Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry put ICL Rotem, which surface mines phosphate rock at Rotem and Zafir (Oron- Zin) in the country’s southern Negev Desert, in the number one spot for worst performance in its latest index of environmental wrongdoers, published on Aug. 14, according to a Times of Israel report.
The ministry cited repeated violations of laws and regulations by ICL Rotem from 2019 through 2021. In 2021, the ICL subsidiary was issued with an administrative order for violations connected with wastewater discharge, infrastructure, and excessive emissions into the air. The company came in second place for worst performance in 2020 and 2019.
ICL Rotem in 2017 was responsible for arguably Israel’s worst environmental disaster involving a massive leak and partial collapse of a dyke in a phosphate evaporation pond at the subsidiary’s fertilizer plant in Mishor Rotem in southern Israel (GM July 7, 2017). The collapse caused extensive damage and contamination to the Ashalim Creek Bed and surrounding areas, killing wildlife and reportedly causing long-term damage.
ICL Rotem and other defendants late last year settled all claims relating to the accident (GM Dec. 16, 2022). Rotem agreed to pay the public and the class groups NIS115 million (approximately $30.6 million) as part of the settlement. The Ashalim accident was not part of the Environmental Protection Ministry’s calculations for its latest ranking.
Another ICL Group subsidiary, Rotem Zin, however, topped the ministry’s list for improving environmental performance since 2020.