“The situation in Haifa Bay is highly volatile,” warned MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) according to a new report exploring the concentration of chemical industries and hazardous material caches in the area. The report, compiled by the Coalition for Public Health in Israel, was presented to the Knesset Health and Environment Committee. The report also assessed the possible damage of a hazardous material leak, should any of the industries in Haifa Bay be compromised, and according to authors Dr. Vered Ben Shlomo and Prof. Nir Beker, the damages caused by a serous leak could amount to billions.
Based on past, small-scale events, the report said that a bromine leak could result in $10 billion in damages, an ammonia leak could cause $3 billion in damages, a chlorine leak is likely to cost $1.3 billion and should cooking gas leak from one of he facilities, it would cause $500 million in damages. The figures, the report stressed, are attributed to potential lose of life and exclude potential property damage. Since such leaks usually affect large areas, the damage assessments also exclude the costs of mass emergency forces’ deployment, the evacuation of the area’s residents and their compensation, and the crippling of the industries operations.
demonstration in Haifa Bay against ammonia premises (Photo: Al Ittihad)Committee Chairman MK Khenin also reviewed various
unfaltering findings by the Knesset’s Research Center, concluding that “Haifa Bay has become the Wild West.” The reality in the area, as portrayed by the reports, “is very dangerous. The situation has to be regulated before it causes horrible damage to the thousands of people who reside in the area,” he said. “This report is just the beginning of a public discourse that must be developed,” Khenin said. He further urged the Environmental Protection Ministry to commission a wide-scale environmental impact survey for the area. “We will reach the proper conclusion only when we have hard figures that demonstrate how much it would cost to deal with the situation now versus how much it would cost to do nothing,” he concluded.
