State-owned pipeline fined NIS 1.6 million over 2011 leaks in Zin stream

The Beersheba Magistrate’s Court fines the Europe Asia Pipeline Company NIS 1.6 million (around $486,000) for polluting the Zin stream in southern Israel on a pair of separate occasions in 2011.

The court also fines a number of former senior officials at the state-owned firm, formerly known as the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline company, including former EAPC director-general Yair Vida, who is ordered to pay NIS 75,000 (over $22,00).

In February, the court convicted EAPC and the former officials over the pollution to the Zin stream, which was badly damaged by the leaks. The stream is a seasonal river that runs 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Ramon Crater to the Sodom plain, then into the southern end of the Dead Sea.

The company has also been indicted over a 2014 oil spill — called the worst spill in Israel’s history — that caused massive damage to a nature reserve in the south.