The Haifa District Court on Wednesday rejected Haifa Chemicals' appeal to cancel the order to empty its ammonia tanks, ruling they must be completely empty by April 1, 2017.
The delay until April 1 is meant to "allow the ammonia tanks to be safely emptied." Haifa Chemicals is expected to file an additional appeal to a higher court.
The Haifa Court also ruled the tanks may no longer be refilled in any fashion, and ships may no longer bring ammonia to Israel.
On Sunday, Haifa middle school students responded to the municipality's request that students protest "Haifa Bay's biggest threat." The students held a strike protesting the government's reluctance to deal with the ammonia tanks, protesting under the slogan, "Youth are no longer indifferent, Haifa says no to ammonia."
On February 13 a court order was given to empty the ammonia tanks within ten days. However, the deadline was delayed and on February 22, Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry said it would not renew the license of Haifa's ammonia container.