Israel Oil Spill Twice as Large as Estimated
Image by getty images
The Dec. 4 oil spill near Eilat was nearly twice as large as initially estimated.
New figures released by Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry indicated that 5 million liters of crude oil spilled from a damaged Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company pipeline, the Times of Israel reported.
The environmental ministry expressed concern that heavy rainfall and flooding predicted for later this week will spread the oil pollutants to additional areas in southern Israel and possibly into the Gulf of Eilat, whose protected coral reefs are at risk of major damage. The spill already has damaged the Evrona nature reserve in the Arava Desert.
State Comptroller Yosef Shapira ordered an immediate investigation into the disaster, and the environmental ministry ordered the pipeline company to stop operating the line until it receives a new permit.
Meanwhile, an Eilat resident filed a class action lawsuit for $95.5 million in the Tel Aviv District Court against the pipeline company, accusing it of environmental damage and negligence.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
