In many countries the environment minister promotes clean energy projects from sources like the sun or wind, and demands large areas for this purpose. That is not the case in Israel, where this month Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra announced his opposition to the major solar energy project at Mishor Yamin near Dimona.

But Ezra has an environmental reason for his opposition. Israel can afford few areas for protecting nature, and the planned facility was slated for one of these that contains species found only in Israel.

The Dimona municipality and the nuclear power plant operating nearby are promoting a plan to establish a solar power station to produce electricity at Mishor Yamin that would extend across 4,000 dunams (1,000 acres).

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According to Professor Arieh Rakhamimov, in charge of landscape and environmental planning for the facility, hundreds of solar panels would be installed, rising six to seven meters. They would be able to produce 250 megawatts. Rakhamimov noted that the site is not intended to be visible from great distances, but it would be visible from the nearby Israel Trail. Rakhamimov believes the site would be impressive and provide an opportunity to turn the region into a center of cutting-edge technology.

About 10 days ago Minister Ezra held a meeting about the plan. At the end of the discussion he decided to oppose it and asked that alternative locations be examined. This decision might carry weight in discussions in the planning institutions in charge of approving the project.

'This is a unique area from a nature and heritage perspective and I have therefore concluded that this facility should not be built here,' Ezra said. 'The nuclear power plant people had pledged in the past not to develop this area.'

In the document, experts in the Environmental Protection Ministry note that the environmental cost of building a solar power station at Mishor Yamin is higher than the advantages of producing renewable energy.

The document states that 95 percent of the sand plateaus in the Negev such as those at Mishor Yamin have disappeared or have been badly damaged by road-building and military exercises. These plains are home to rare flora and fauna habitats, some of them species that exist only in Israel such as the Negev iris. Mishor Yamin was chosen for the facility because it extends over 10,000 dunams (2,500 acres) of largely uninterrupted open space.

In this area stations can be built to produce a total of 500 megawatts. Experts in the Environmental Protection Ministry believe it is important to utilize a large area in one place instead of allocating new additional areas for the same purpose.

'I am disappointed in the position of the environmental protection minister,' Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen said. This project can provide jobs for 75 residents and employ almost 500 during its construction, which will take between three to four years. It will provide electricity to the city and area industry, and have surplus electricity we can sell.'

The fact that we will be producing clean electricity here can widely affect the whole area,' Cohen said. 'This is a change in the image of the place that will become identified with advanced and environmentally friendly technology. They've been talking about utilizing energy like this for 15 years and now it's possible to do it.'

Cohen is very critical of the environmental organizations, arguing that they care more about animals than the people who are living in the Negev. 'When the Defense Ministry wants a facility the greens are quiet, but they are shocked the moment there's a civilian initiative. This area has in any case been damaged, and this facility won't harm the animals that are there. It seems to me that from the greens' point of view, Yeruham and Dimona should not exist because we only bother nature.'