Boralex formal notice in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

Activists blocking a photovoltaic park construction site in Cruis (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), March 30, 2023. – © Collective Elzeard, Lure in resistance

Activists blocking a photovoltaic park construction site in Cruis (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), March 30, 2023. – © Collective Elzeard, Lure in resistance

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New twist in the fight against the Cruis solar power plant, on the Lure mountain, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence: the Canadian company Boralex, which operates the photovoltaic park, has just been ordered to regularize its administrative situation, reveals the association of opponents Amilure in a press release.

On May 31, the Marseille administrative court of appeal canceled the exemption from environmental law from which the company benefited to destroy protected species and habitats. Ignoring this decision, Boralex continued the work and put the photovoltaic plant into operation. Today, the prefecture is forcing the operator to carry out an in-depth study demonstrating the absence of an alternative solution in the region, or to dismantle the plant and restore the site. Pending administrative regularization, the works, operations or activities « the realization of which involves a significant risk for protected species » are suspended.

At first glance, this new decree seems to be a victory, but other members of the opposition, notably the Elzeard collective, make a much more worrying reading of it. According to them, the text poses a problem because of a passage specifying that « the operator may continue upon notification of this order, under its responsibility, work which is not likely to generate a sufficiently significant risk of harm to protected species present in the project area. ». They denounce « one more gift given to the industrialist ». « It is obvious that the industrialist will declare that his work is not likely to generate these risks »they say in their press release.

This struggle has been going on for several years in the Lure mountain. The activists repeatedly blocked the construction site which razed several hectares of forest. Activists blocked construction equipment with their bodies, exposing themselves to heavy legal penalties. Several opponents were even injured by loggers and security guards, some with iron bars.