The Nancy Administrative Court of Appeal on Friday annulled the prefectural decree which authorized the burying “for an unlimited period” of hazardous waste on the Stocamine site in Wittelsheim, in the Haut-Rhin, reports Agence France- Hurry.
As pointed out by our colleagues from Latest News from Alsace, this decision thus puts a definitive halt to the containment work in Wittelsheim. The concrete pouring project, planned to last three and a half years in order to constitute a sarcophagus, was to begin in the coming days.
A new evaluation expected
The Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili had ruled in January in favor of the definitive containment of the 42,000 tons of non-radioactive toxic waste (asbestos, arsenic, mercury …) stored in this mine, 535 meters underground, to the chagrin local communities and environmental associations.
The Administrative Court of Appeal of Nancy had thus been seized by the Grand Est region, the European Collectivity of Alsace, the municipality of Wittenheim and the Alsace Nature association. In its judgment, it stresses that the company des Mines de potasse d’Alsace (MDPA), which operates Stocamine, “does not justify having financial capacity enabling it to carry out the unlimited exploitation and to assume the all the requirements likely to result from the extension of the authorization “. It therefore calls on the Prefect to “carry out a new assessment of the financial guarantees provided by the operator”.
Environmental risks
The operation of the Stocamine site was authorized in 1997 for 30 years by a first prefectural decree, in order to convert this end-of-life potash mine into an underground industrial landfill, and to store 320,000 tonnes of hazardous waste there, at a depth of 535 meters. The supply of waste was interrupted in 2002 after a fire in one of the storage sites, when more than 44,000 tonnes had already been lowered.
Since then, studies have multiplied to highlight the dangers involved in removing toxic waste but also the risks that their containment would pose to the environment, and in particular the possible pollution of the water table in Alsace. Under François Hollande’s five-year term, the state had decided to withdraw 93% of mercury waste, and to contain the rest of the waste. A prefectural decree was issued in March 2017 to authorize the “unlimited” containment of waste.
Faced with the discontent of local communities and environmental defense associations, the State then again considered withdrawing additional waste. But Minister Barbara Pompili put an end to the uncertainty in January, by deciding on the final containment of the waste. Development work had been carried out on site for several months, and the first concrete pourings, aimed at forming impermeable plugs preventing access to waste, were expected in early November.
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