"Before, I was quiet because there were only meadows and cows. Now there is a monster. And the money does not interest me, I want to stay in my house", says Jacqueline Monjanel, an octogenarian who has lived in the commune of Moustier-Ventadour since 1974.

The Farges family's sawmill moved to the bordering town of Egletons, near Mrs Monjanel's house, three years later.

In 2004, the site had 35 employees, for a sawing volume of 25,000 cubic meters, when it was bought by the Vendée group Piveteau.

The Farges Bois d'Egletons sawmill, in Corrèze, on December 15, 2022 © PASCAL LACHENAUD / AFP

The new owner of the premises has since invested heavily, the factory now employing 230 people and its production reaching 150,000 m3 per year.

A volume that Piveteau wants to further double by developing in particular CLT, or cross-laminated timber, a technical product very popular in the construction of high-rise buildings.

This growth requires an extension of the sawmill over twelve hectares and the investment of more than 100 million euros, with around fifty jobs created as a result, according to Damien Larue, site manager.

Damien Larue, director of the Farges Bois d'Egletons sawmill, in Corrèze, shows fields affected by the site extension project, December 15, 2022 © PASCAL LACHENAUD / AFP

"This will allow us to respond to an increase in demand and to the State's desire to build more wooden buildings to reduce the carbon footprint, but also imports. We want to be ready in three years", says the responsible.

The site cannot begin, however, because appeals have been initiated against the necessary expropriations, in parallel with political opposition.

Offsets

The elected environmentalists of the New Aquitaine region denounced, in a press release published at the end of November, "the multiple dramatic environmental and social impacts" attributed to the project.

A banner planted in a field near the Farges Bois sawmill in Egletons, Corrèze, on December 15, 2022 © PASCAL LACHENAUD / AFP

By detailing their grievances: "excessive deforestation, disappearance of biodiversity, water pollution, grabbing of agricultural land, eviction of inhabitants and farmers, noise pollution" and "road traffic problems", with an increase in the traffic of trucks.

"There is a system of compensation supervised by the State", retorts Mr. Larue, who considers "more respectful of the environment" to develop the sawmill and the wood sector for the construction industry, "than to enlarge power plants concrete that emit more carbon".

On December 1, 200 people demonstrated in Egletons at the call of an association, Associtra, which defends local residents and farmers threatened with expropriation.

Marie-Thérèse Touquet (G) and Marcel Cheze, farmers opposed to the plan to extend a sawmill, pose on December 15, 2022 in Egletons, Corrèze © PASCAL LACHENAUD / AFP

Like Marie-Thérèse Touquet, breeder of Limousin cows who could lose one hectare of fields out of a total of sixty.

"It starts like that, then they'll ask for more. I'm afraid my son will find it difficult to continue after me," she says.

Fabrice Sznajder, goat breeder and tenant of six hectares threatened with expropriation, talks about "mowing land which is very precious for feeding" his herd and refuses to go and farm plots "at the other end of the Correze".

Appeals have been lodged against the local intermunicipal urban plan.

In which the extension of the sawmill "fits perfectly", estimates Charles Ferré, president of the community of communes, favorable to the project.

According to him, “consequent offers” of compensation were made to the owners of the land concerned “but they refused, so there was the declaration of public utility”.

A banner displayed in front of a house in Egletons, Corrèze, on December 15, 2022 © PASCAL LACHENAUD / AFP

The DUP is also being sued.

"This story is here to stay. We will continue to circulate the petitions and organize other mobilizations in connection with the legal calendar", warns Frédérique Vergne, president of Associtra.

© 2022 AFP