ORL malfunction caused huge torch flare in Haifa Bay and alarmed residents – local

A failure of ORL group facilities resulted in a huge flame bursting into the torch, causing a great deal of panic in the Bay of Haifa. “A national air monitoring system deployed in the Gulf of Haifa, also near the ORL compound, measures the concentrations of pollutants in the air in real time, and up to this time no deviation from the standards has been measured.” This is the second time this week there has been a malfunction in the ORL ethylene facility.

The ministry also said: “According to reports from a factory in the United States, these are ethylene gas burns in the torch. In the next few hours, the torch flame is expected to be seen across the bay, and gas flow will gradually decrease. “

Haifa Mayor Einat Kalish-Rotem wrote in her Facebook account that “The Haifa Municipality is conducting four legal proceedings against ORL and its companies. In recent weeks I have received some government calls, claiming my attitude is too harsh. I haven’t started to be tough yet. Zero tolerance. ”

“The residents of Haifa are going to sleep again with great concern,” said Dr. Revital Goldsmith of the Haifa Environmental Research Center. “Not all the hazardous materials are burned effectively when the torch flame is so big,” she explained. We require the Ministry of the Environment to close the facility and not allow damage to air quality and the safety of the metropolitan residents. “

Avihu Han, Haifa’s green chairman, added that “Corona is a children’s game compared to the industry’s excessive morbidity and death in Haifa Bay. We sit on a barrel of explosives. ”

The ORL says that “following a malfunction of the ethylene facility, during which the turbine’s work and compressor were discontinued, there is a widespread torch activity expected to take several hours. As part of the fault operation, the excess gas was safely diverted to the torch. “