A critical official report on the construction project by the Ministre de l’Energie was made public this morning.(France-Info)
” The choice of a dam was made “without any real analysis of possible alternatives. And” this is all the more regrettable that the investment cost compared to the stored volume is high. “The assessment of its need was carried out on the basis of ” old data and standards,” which led to “overstatements.” And the study presented of the dam’s impact was ‘very average’.
The least one can say is that the report, written by two specialist engineers, is highly critical of the Sivens dam project. Amongst other grievances, serous financial problems were raised, or rather the issue of the project’s “compatibility with the rules of the EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) and the regulations on on state aid”. These could lead, the report suggests, to an even “more severe interpretation” (than this report) by the European Union.
A long article in Le Monde on Saturday (Tensions dans le Tarn, où le barrage de Sivens attise la guerre de l’eau) described the influence of the industrial agricultural lobby behind the dam project. It noted that the water will be used for the large-scale cultivation of crops such as maize. The author suggested that nobody but these farmers would benefit.
Apart from denouncing the immediate environmental damage (to several rare species of animals, plants and insects), opponents have been mobilised to protest at the Sivens dam as the symbol of an obsolete model of agricultural production.
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