Opponents of the XXL methanizer are not giving up.

"They will know what a Gallic village is," quipped Claude Naud, the mayor of Corcoué-sur-Logne (Loire-Atlantique).

A demonstration brought together nearly 400 people on Saturday, south of Nantes, to denounce the largest methanizer project in France intended to produce biogas from organic waste.

The demonstrators, who had paraded for the first time in February 2021, strolled to music in the sunny streets of this town of 3,000 inhabitants behind a banner proclaiming "Stop methanisation XXL" and with signs including one showing a cow transformed into a gas canister and covered with the word "no".

Attac and EELV flags were also visible.

A scale deemed “too large”

"Peasants are not made to produce plants that we will burn, destroy, to ferment, to produce gas," commented Julien Durand, a retired farmer from Notre-Dame-des-Landes, who was a emblematic player in the fight against the abandoned airport project in the north of the department.

The role of farmers "is first and foremost to feed the population healthily", he added.

The scale of this methanizer is "too large because it does not meet a local need, so we have a lot of transport, importing raw materials, as well as exporting products", continued Julien Durand, whose presence was welcomed by the organizers.

Additional income for breeders

The giant Métha Herbauges biogas plant is run by the Coop d'Herbauges cattle breeders' cooperative and the Danish company Nature Energy.

The idea is to provide farmers with additional income through the management of their livestock effluents, manure and slurry, as well as intermediate crops (rye, sorghum) to make gas.

The objective is to transform nearly 500,000 tonnes of organic matter per year.

Anaerobic digestion has been a booming activity for 10 years but often raises fears of nuisances (pollution, odours, etc.) among local residents.

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