Press release from Friends of the Earth of Gers and FNE Occitanie-Pyrénées, following the Energy Information Commission which was held at the Prefecture of Gers on November 4 and brought together nearly 50 participants.
The Friends of the Earth of Gers and FNE Occitanie-Pyrénées have requested the development of a real “Gers Master Plan for renewable energies” in transparency and consultation.
“The brutality of the Renewable Energy Acceleration law – APER law of 2023 – which was seized as an opportunity by the Region in its REPOS scenario (Positive Energy Region), has become blatant on our Gers territory, in the impossibility of organizing We cannot ask the Gers to become a major producer of Renewable Energy while remaining one of the main agricultural departments. of the country and participating in its food sovereignty.
This is precisely what the Energy Information Commission #2 of Monday, November 4under the responsibility of the Prefect of Gers and with nearly 50 participants, highlighted. The vast majority of those present: Friends of the Land of Gers and FNE Occitanie-Pyrénées, representatives of the Region, the Department, the Mayors of Gers, rural Mayors, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Chamber of Trades , of the Departmental Committee of Tourism, of the Hunting and Fishing Federations, of the agricultural unions…, expressed a necessary transversality which must go well beyond the sole accounting of Kwh.
This is why during this meeting, the Friends of the Land of Gers and FNE Occitanie-Pyrénées firmly underlined the inadequacy of the “run of the water” method followed until now. This approach, without a global vision and very reductive, approaches projects one after the other through the sole prism of energy objectives set by the REPOS scenario. The complexity of reconciling the objectives of economic development, environmental protection and sobriety must neither be underestimated nor hidden. On the contrary, it must be discussed openly and with everyone, in the transparency of future projects, with a strategy of anticipation and avoidance of impacts, particularly on natural agricultural and forestry areas (ENAF); otherwise its effects will be suffered and contested.
It is therefore a real “Pragmatic Gers master plan for renewable energies” which must be developed, consulted widely, then applied. It will make it possible to define a long-term vision for the development of relevant ENR in the Gers thanks to real citizen participation, the coordination of public policies (energy, agricultural, environmental, water, town planning, tourism, etc.). ), taking into account by local authorities the long term, respect for biodiversity and the National Low Carbon Strategy, etc… The energy poverty of low-income households, territorial organization, energy sobriety, are subjects complex which requires clear guidelines and this requires an appropriate method under the responsibility of public authorities, but for everyone and with citizens.”
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