The news fell on Monday: before the Administrative Court of Appeal of Nancy, the public rapporteur Stéphane Barbaux requested the annulment of the prefectural decree authorizing the permanent landfill of toxic waste in Stocamine, Alsace. Yet another twist in this sensitive issue.
The rapporteur underlined the “inadequacies” of the impact study and “justification of financial capacities” on the part of the MDPA, the company in charge of the landfill on the Wittelsheim (Haut-Rhin) site in a former potash mine. Me Carine Le Roy-Gleizes, lawyer for the MDPA, refuted any failure in the impact study: “This is a case that has been studied and which has brought in the best international experts. The Nancy Administrative Court of Appeal is due to issue its judgment on Friday and could decide to interrupt the work.
More than 40,000 tonnes already underground
At the end of the 1990s, the end-of-life potash mine had been converted into an underground industrial landfill, with a view to storing 320,000 tonnes of non-radioactive hazardous waste. In 2002, the fire in one of the storage sites had stopped the supply of waste, while more than 40,000 tonnes had already been lowered 500 meters underground.
In January, the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili ruled in favor of definitive confinement in concrete of what is already buried. Landfill work was to begin in mid-October.