Par
Valentine Gaxieu
Published on
Nov. 6 2024 at 1:23 p.m
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This is a project in the starting blocks since the start of 2022… public consultation phase regarding the installation of the pellet factory by the company EO2 Bourgogne – Franche-Comté, in the territory of Salins-les-Bains, will take place from Wednesday November 13 to Wednesday December 11, 2024.
As a reminder, a public consultation is a process by which public comments are collected on a project or proposal.
The project
This granulation unit, subject to an application for registrationis dedicated to the transformation of hardwood and softwood pulp logs into wood pellets. Located on land of 8,3 hectares In the Mélincols industrial zonein the northwest of the town, this installation will have a production capacity of 110,000 tonnes of pellets per year.
It will include several essential infrastructures: a log storage and processing platform, a direct contact dryer powered by biomass, as well as a granulation and bagging unit. The pellets produced will be available for sale, in bulk, or bagged.
An association fights against the project
During our edition of Thursday August 22, 2024, Adrien Levierdeputy to the former mayor and secretary general of the Pays de Salins Environnement association (created in 2023 with the aim of denouncing the impacts of the project) denounced the harmful consequences that the installation of this factory would cause, as the sound of the wood chipper – which would extend up to three kilometers -, the polluting and noisy traffic of 140 trucks per daya degradation of the living environment and certain dangers, such as fire risks.
A request for registration and not for authorization
To date, the demands are the same, but one is added. “We regret that this is a registration request whereas last year, the prefect had changed it to a request for authorization», confides Adrien Levier to Voice of Jura.
But what does that change? An authorization request involves more in-depth studies of environmental risks and impacts . This type of request – for which the procedures take longer – requires a public inquiryand therefore the intervention of an investigating commissioner. “While the registration application provides for a consultation, there is therefore no no third party to evaluate itnor any conclusion. The prefect will take the opinions as they are, without giving a favorable or unfavorable response,” regrets the secretary of the association.
A modified file
“The EO2 company project falls under the registration regime under the regulations for classified installations», Explains the prefecture to Voice of Jura. However, the institution confirms that due to the specific “environmental issues” linked to the project of this pellet factory, the company's initial application for registration was indeed transferred to a more rigorous procedure, that of environmental authorization.
Company E02 subsequently withdrew its initial registration application . The prefecture declares: “It worked to completely avoid the environmental issues that explained the shift. » On April 25, 2024, a new registration application file was therefore submitted, for a project “ modified, integrating the avoidance of environmental issues . »
A request for additional information
Subsequently, this new file was the subject of “ requests for supplements», on June 25 and October 8. The requested additions were provided on September 20 and October 15.
“All the elements present in this new completed file lead to not proposing at this stage the switch to the authorization procedure», Certifies the prefecture. Contacted a second time by Voice of Jura to provide more details on the additions desired and provided, the prefecture did not respond to these requests.
A “complete and regular” file according to the prefecture
The file was considered“complete and regular”on October 17, “so that it can be the subject of regulatory consultations”. The prefecture confirms this: “The registration proceduredoes not provide for the intervention of an investigating commissionerfor the public consultation phase.
Terms
The consultation will take place from Wednesday, November 13 at 9 a.m. to Wednesday, December 11, 2024 at 4 p.m. Citizens will be able to consult the file at the Salins-les-Bains town hall, as well as on the website of the Jura prefecture at the following address: jura.gouv.fr, in the section dedicated to public consultations.
During this period, residents will have the opportunity to formulate their observations and proposals in several ways:
– Electronically to the address [email protected] specifying the subject “SOCIETE EO2 Salins-les-Bains”.
– By mail addressed to the Prefecture of Jura, for the attention of the BRGAE. The address: 8 rue de la Préfecture, 39 000 Lons-le-Saunier.
– Directly on the consultation register, available at the Salins-les-Bains town hall.
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