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Parent Category: Safety Info Posts

Category: Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP)

Published: 06 September 2017

This anhydrous ammonia (NH3) refrigerated storage tank (photo source: Jerusalem Post) was feared to be a target of terrorist and as one report claimed, imminent failure.  The battle heated up in 2013 when "Hezbollah" (a recognized terrorist group) threatened to blow up the tank (or the ship delivering the NH3) with missiles and the courts got involved.  It seems the tank was built without the proper HAZMAT and business permit(s) and this was why the court (legally) decided that the tank was to be removed from service.  On a political note, it seems the Isreali government actually owns the plant/tank and Haifa Chemicals just operates it.  So this was a battle between the Israeli and Haifa governments with a company stuck in the middle?!?!?  Now the company says without their key raw material (NH3), they are shutting down the south plant and laying off 400+ workers (NOTE: some reports are that Haifia has decided to close BOTH the north and south plants and layoff over 800+ workers).  But wait, the Haifa Labor Court ordered the dismissal of employees the be suspended until the end of September! The plant has not been able to operate since March (2017) and reportedly kept its workforce employed in the hopes that some kind of deal could be reached that would allow the plant to continue operations.  The company claims it is has lost hundreds of millions of shekels (1 shekel = $0.28 USD) over this time period.  Is the USA ready for this level of "facility siting"?

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