According to a decree published on Sunday in
the Official Journal
, the government, which wishes to permanently confine the 42,000 tonnes of toxic waste buried in an old mine in Wittelsheim (Haut-Rhin), has decided to provide a financial guarantee of 160 million euros up to in 2030 to the MDPA company which manages the site.
The question of the financial guarantees available to the company Mines de Potasse d'Alsace (MDPA) is at the heart of a legal dispute raised by opponents of the permanent confinement of non-radioactive hazardous waste (asbestos, arsenic, mercury, etc.) stored on the site. of Stocamine, 550 meters underground, below the water table.
The fear of groundwater contamination
In January 2021, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, decided on the final confinement of the waste, which had initially been accumulated on the site under a temporary authorization.
This decision aroused the ire of local elected officials and environmental associations who, fearing contamination of the groundwater, demanded the removal of as much waste as possible.
In October, the administrative justice had challenged the prefectural decree serving as a legal framework for the permanent confinement: it had underlined that, contrary to what is imposed by the Environmental Code, the company MDPA did not justify "financial capacities putting it capable of carrying out the unlimited exploitation" of the site.
In the decree published on Sunday, the government grants the “State guarantee” to the MDPA company within the limit of an amount of 160 million euros.
This guarantee covers “commitments made and to come […] concerning the performance of the work”.
A draft decree to reform the Environmental Code
At the same time, the Ministry of Ecological Transition has drawn up a draft decree to reform the Environmental Code.
This reform provides that companies “to which the State provides its guarantee” are exempted from constituting their own financial guarantees.
The draft decree, which was the subject of a public consultation until February 22, must still be submitted to the Council of State.
Preparatory work for a possible final containment should begin this week in Stocamine.
This work also provides for the "backfilling of block 15", where waste that had been affected by a fire in 2002 is stored.
At the end of February, the environmental association Alsace Nature filed an appeal with the Strasbourg public prosecutor's office, considering that this work, including the backfilling, cannot be carried out until the authorization to definitively confine the waste has not been granted.
The association also believes that this work would be likely to hinder the ongoing criminal investigation, led by the environment department of the Strasbourg public prosecutor's office, on the nature of the waste stored, some of which may not have been compliant.
Planet
Alsace: The final burial of waste on the Stocamine site challenged by justice
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Alsace: The public rapporteur calls for the cancellation of the permanent containment of hazardous waste from the Stocamine site
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Environment
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