Jean-Louis Butré is President of the Sustainable Environment Federation. (EDF).
In Belfort on February 10, 2022, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, to justify the relaunch of the nuclear sector, gave in to the renewable energy manufacturers by presenting an energy program based on the massive development of onshore and offshore wind turbines, which will not prevent electricity shortages and will certainly affect the purchasing power of households.
According to the declarations of Emmanuel Macron, onshore wind power will see its power double and the territory will be covered by 15,000 to 20,000 wind turbines.
But today 95% of the electricity produced in France is produced by sectors that do not emit greenhouse gases.
This program is therefore a mistake in the fight against climate change and security of supply.
It will lead to the construction of several dozen CO²-emitting gas-fired power stations, which are essential for securing France's electricity supply when the wind is absent, particularly during the winter period.
Then the price of household electricity "explode", to the detriment of the purchasing power of the French.
The current is purchased as a priority and compulsorily at exorbitant guaranteed prices from wind promoters.
All the material to build the wind turbines is imported, mainly from Germany, Denmark, and China.
France subsidizes jobs in these countries and destroys them in France by weakening the competitiveness of electricity-consuming industries.
Natural parks, forests, protected areas will be violated.
Wildlife will be threatened.
The damage to biodiversity will be enormous.
Jean-Louis Butre
How to preserve the environment when soon 20,000 plinths, or a total of 35 million tons of reinforced concrete will never be removed from the ground?
Given the exorbitant cost of dismantling wind turbines, the territory will retain many industrial wastelands.
Natural parks, forests, protected areas will be violated.
Wildlife will be threatened.
The damage to biodiversity will be enormous.
Why destroy the historical heritage, the landscapes of France and the property of individuals?
Regarding the latter, capital losses of up to 100% have already been recorded for local residents' houses.
Installing wind turbines that now exceed 230 meters in height 500 meters from homes is above all a threat to health.
It is enough to read the regional press to understand that throughout rural France citizens confronted with wind turbines are protesting against these machines.
The village of Échauffour in Orne is the perfect example.
Read alsoIn Deux-Sèvres, a village refuses wind turbines “higher than the Montparnasse tower”
Navigation prohibition zones included, 11,500 km², it is an area larger than Corsica that will be monopolized.
Offshore wind turbines are located close to the coast.
They will have a significant impact because of their gigantic size and they will cause the ruin of the landscape and historical heritage of France from Dunkirk to Monaco.
Millions of tourists, vacationers, families and children come to the seaside to recharge their batteries in front of the great natural spaces.
The beaches will be electrified by buried or overhead high-voltage lines, not to mention the injuries inflicted on neighboring towns caused by the connections of these factories to the network by transformers.
And finally, the cost for the traditional guild of fishermen.
Will their historical workspaces be monopolized by multinationals, financial consortia and foreign pension funds?
The wind power plan presented by Emmanuel Macron will combine all the disadvantages, ecological, societal and economic.
Jean-Louis Butre
Why did he authorize the destruction of the environment by ignoring the reports of the National Council for the Protection of Nature on offshore wind and NGOs, whistleblowers like SeaSherperd,
Robin des Bois
who continue to denounce the disastrous consequences of these factories on biodiversity, on fish, on marine mammals and on the real genocide of migratory birds and protected species which will no longer find places to rest, feed, or steal ?
How was he able to affirm his commitment to protecting the sea in front of fifty heads of state gathered in Brest at the international summit "One Ocean Summit", when a few days before, the President of the Republic had decided in Belfort to cover it? wind turbines and sacrifice the entire French coastline?
The ocean is the planet's lung, the first regulator of the climate.
It is the main carbon sink.
No one has the right to destroy it.
In conclusion, the wind power plan presented by Emmanuel Macron will combine all the disadvantages, ecological, societal and economic.
In this last area, the international wind sector is at high risk.
The leaders of the sector in Europe are struggling.
The business is not very profitable, prices are exploding and investors are wary, the leaders of the sector in Europe are doing badly.
Emmanuel Macron's speech in Belfort actually acknowledges the fact that France has lost its energy independence.
Was this plan imposed on France by Germany, the cradle of the wind turbine industry lobby?
Is this an agreement so that in exchange for the purchase of wind turbines by France, Europe accepts the inclusion of nuclear power in the "green taxonomy" being negotiated in Brussels?
