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State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s latest report exposes significant governmental failures in managing the Dead Sea Works, highlighting regulatory shortcomings and environmental neglect. The report, released Tuesday, criticizes the state's oversight of the mining conglomerate, which has allowed severe environmental and economic mismanagement to persist for decades. Englman states that the findings should concern every Israeli citizen, as the Dead Sea’s natural resources belong to the public.
The report highlights the government’s failure to uphold environmental protections and economic interests, violating the 'polluter pays' principle and principles of distributive justice. 4 View gallery Dead Sea factory ( Photo: Reuters ) The Dead Sea, a national treasure, has been under license to the mining conglomerate since 1961 when the state granted exclusive extraction rights to the Dead Sea Works in exchange for royalties. Privatized in 1995, the conglomerate now spans 652 square kilometers — more than 11 times the size of Tel Aviv-Yafo — and includes potash, bromine and magnesium plants, as well as evaporation pools, pumping stations, wastewater treatment facilities, and waste sites.
The report details regulatory failures that have led to environmental degradation and financial losses amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels. The Environmental Protection Ministry failed to update the environmental conditions for the bromine plant’s business license for 25 years, and for the potash plant for 15 years. The bromine plant lacks provisions for wastewater and asbestos hazards, while the potash plant’s new power station lacks specific environmental requirements.
The inadequate oversight has resulted in ongoing environmental damage. Over the years, potash has leaked into the Judean Desert nature reserve via a conveyor belt, salting the soil and damaging the ecosystem. The Dead Sea Works is not required to report such contamination.
Between October 2020 and January 2024, eight additional spills of pollutants from the plant’s pipelines into the reserve harmed wildlife and vegetation. In 2022, a leak at a channel near the Tze’elim stream caused widespread plant death. The report calls these incidents a regulatory failure by the Environmental Protection Ministry.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play : https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store : https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv Beyond environmental damage, the government's passive approach has resulted in significant financial losses.
The Energy Ministry and the Israel Land Authority (ILA) failed to demand payment from the company for extracted materials. According to the comptroller’s calculations, this could have amounted to over 120 million shekels in the past decade — 112 million shekels for the ILA and 8.5 million shekels for the quarry rehabilitation fund.
Furthermore, the authorities failed to enforce rehabilitation of abandoned mining sites, which the report describes as “open wounds” in the unique Dead Sea landscape. 4 View gallery Dead Sea water solution spill from the feed canal 2022 ( Photo: Israel Nature and Parks Authority ) The report also finds that the Dead Sea Works has generated substantial industrial waste. Every year, the company produces about 15,000 tons of salt sludge and 2 million tons of salt and short salt waste.
For decades, the Environmental Protection Ministry failed to impose waste management regulations. When the ministry finally required a plan for handling salt sludge, the company repurposed it as construction material within the concession area, creating visible and potentially harmful waste piles. The ministry also failed to impose landfill fees on the company.
According to the comptroller’s calculations, had such fees been enforced, the company would have paid between 90 million shekels and 135 million shekels to the Cleanliness Fund in 2023 alone. The report raises concerns over the stability of the company’s industrial structures and the lack of coordination between government agencies, including the Tamar Regional Council, the Water Authority, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Englman criticizes the ILA’s failure to reassess the status of land that has dried up due to declining Dead Sea water levels.
Since the Dead Sea Concession Law was enacted six decades ago, approximately 250 square kilometers of former Dead Sea area have dried up, with industrial facilities built on some of this land. The ILA has not examined whether lease payments should be collected for these newly created lands. As of 2024, the Dead Sea Works pays an annual lease fee of only 2.
7 million shekels. The comptroller found that this fee, determined in 1975, is still based on outdated land values set in Israeli lira, which was the currency until 1980. The report criticizes the ILA and the Finance Ministry for failing to reassess lease fees over the years despite changes in land value.
4 View gallery Pollution in Nahal Ashalim ( Photo: Reuters ) Englman calls on the Finance Ministry, which is leading the government's efforts to formulate a new concession agreement for 2030, to address the issues raised in the report. He suggests considering the establishment of a dedicated regulatory body to oversee the future concession. “The findings of this report should be carefully studied as the state prepares for a new concession agreement in 2030,” he writes.
The Environmental Protection Ministry responded that it welcomes the report and has already begun implementing most of its recommendations. The ministry stated that it is working to establish updated environmental conditions for all industrial infrastructure within the concession area and has drafted new licensing conditions for key facilities. The Energy Ministry dismissed the comptroller’s interpretation of the mining ordinance, arguing that quarries within the delineated area, used solely for the company’s operations, do not require a license or payments to the quarry rehabilitation fund.
The ministry claims that it regularly inspects the concession area and has found no mining violations. 4 View gallery The Dead Sea Works responded that the report primarily critiques regulatory authorities rather than the company itself. It emphasized that it operates strictly according to the concession law and regulatory requirements and cooperates fully with oversight bodies.
The company also highlighted its contributions to the Israeli economy, including significant tax revenues, employment opportunities, and regional tourism development. The ILA stated that lease payments were set in a 1975 agreement based on the 1961 concession law, which mandated royalty payments directly to the Finance Ministry. The ILA does not collect royalties but acknowledged that some land use changes have occurred over time.
The comptroller’s report underscores long-standing governmental failures in managing the Dead Sea’s resources. With the current concession set to expire in 2030, the report serves as a call for urgent reforms to ensure better oversight, environmental protection, and fair economic returns for the public. >.
