Haifa — Israeli environmental activists are not happy with the March 1 decision by the country’s Environmental Protection and Industry and Trade Ministries to move the anhydrous ammonia storage facility from Haifa, arguing that it might not happen until 2015 or 2016. They base this on the ministries’ support for a production plant in the Negev that would use natural gas from Israel’s huge offshore reserves. The gas from the Tamar field is not expected to reach the country before mid-2013, while the larger Leviathan field is not expected to begin production before 2016. Ratio Oil Exploration, which has proposed building an ammonia plant in the Negev and is a partner in the Leviathan field, has not even started the approval process for building a plant. In the meantime, environmental groups want the 12,000 mt ammonia storage plant, located within the city limits of Haifa, to be shut down immediately. On March 7 they launched a campaign to raise public awareness just as the matter was being taken up by a municipal court in Haifa. The Haifa Municipality has been trying to get the storage facility, which is owned and operated by Haifa Chemicals, out of the city for several years. A noisy demonstration was held outside the court by members of the Green Course movement and the Coalition for Public Health, who object to the continued delays in dealing with the facility and say that it is a public health hazard and a security risk. The judge agreed to a request by Haifa Chemicals to put off a decision for two more months in order to give the sides more time to assess the risks posed by the ammonia plant.
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