Conflits environnementaux, milieux naturels et décisions publiques : Étude de deux cas industriels

Abstract

Through case studies we explore the dynamics of two environmental conflicts about industrial projects that affect significantly the natural milieus, and we consider the interactions between public and private decisions. The first case stages an alumina plant run by a French company ALTEO in Gardanne (France), which has dumped wastes called “red muds” in the Mediterranean sea as of 1967 until 2015 and which has be authorized to continue rejecting water, without solid particles, but in derogation to legal norms. The second case bears on the project of “biomass” unit by the German group E.ON to provide energy for power plant, in the same city. This very big unit is a challenge because the raw material will be collected for a part in a nearby environment of forests affected by anthropogenic pressures. One describes first the dynamics of the two projects by identifying all the stakeholders and stressing the chain of their decisions, especially focusing on the public ones. One infers the intricate imbrication of several levels of public decision reflecting the discordance between administrative divisions and real natural milieus. One also infers that beyond vested interests the attitudes of the stakeholders reflect different “values” assigned to Nature and divergent because of the fragmentation of knowledge relative to natural milieus. The collection of 1184 public positions allows matching the attitudes with the stakeholder categories. The attitudes toward the projects are also considered as a function of the distance to the plant location, and it comes out that are not necessarily linked to the direct impact for the stakeholder. The conclusion stresses the need for arenas of debate to improve the circulation of information and the convergence of knowledge for an attenuation of the conflicts.