Can skiing and environmental concerns go hand in hand? In recent months, in the French Alps, where the white gold model still reigns in majesty, several development projects in ski resorts have been contested on ecological grounds, sometimes to the point of being seriously slowed down after a proceedings before the courts. Non-exhaustive overview of this phenomenon.
Stoppage in the development of ski resorts in Maurienne
Environmental associations hailed “an exceptional victory”. As reported Release, on May 30, the Grenoble administration court put a stop to the development of ski resorts in the Maurienne valley, after the filing of an appeal against the territorial coherence plan (Scot) by several associations . This Scot notably provided for new connections between stations and the creation of 22,800 additional new beds. In a communicated, one of its associations, Mountain Wilderness, denounces “the irrational nature of this project”, which “reflects a headlong rush and a project totally incompatible with the erosion of the ski market, climate change, tension on water resources, the protection of landscapes and biodiversity and the challenges of reinforcing a summer activity. »
In their judgment, the judges deplore “serious attacks” on natural environments and protected species, to the great dismay of local elected officials. At the microphone of France Blue, the vice-president in charge of Scot Jean-Claude Raffin confides his anger. “We must ask people to come to Maurienne, to come and see if the elected officials have concreted the valley as is done elsewhere. »
A cable car project that has become a ZAD at thousands of meters above sea level
Last October, for six days, Earth Uprising activists occupied part of the Girose glacier, in the Hautes-Alpes, to block a cable car site. Around forty people took turns camping at an altitude of around 3,400 meters on this glacier. In their sights: a ski lift project carried out by Sata group, a company which manages the Alpe-d’Huez, Deux-Alpes and La Grave lifts, which would consist of replacing a ski lift with a cable car on the third section of the glacier, but which would, according to its detractors, have a heavy environmental impact. Several suspensive appeals filed by opponents have already been rejected by the Marseille administrative court but an appeal on the merits is in preparation.
The constructions of Risoul 2000 are not unanimous
The town hall and professionals of the Risoul resort in the Hautes-Alpes have been carrying out a project for several years to build 2,500 new beds in seasonal accommodation, hotels and high-end residences. But, also supported by an association of owners in Risoul, the Moutain Wilderness associations and the Alpine Society for the Protection of Nature-France nature environment 05 do not see it that way, and have filed three appeals before the administrative court of Marseille .
“We are still going to raze ten hectares of forest to make 2,000 beds,” says Hervé Gasdon, president of the Alpine Society for the Protection of Nature-France nature environment 05. Hectares of forest which had been planted in a compensatory manner during the construction of the station in 1974… This is moving towards an artificialization of the soil, in a larch forest which represents the place where there is the most biodiversity. » The case has not yet been heard in court.