/regions/2024/07/31/000-34p37w8-66aa218c5ff71072528580.jpg)
Jean-Luc Ginder, municipal councilor of Bollwiller (Haut-Rhin) launched a petition on Sunday July 28, 2024 against the search for lithium in Haut-Rhin. The elected official contests the two permits granted at the beginning of July 2024 by the State to the company Vulcan Energie France. These permits authorize the company to search for lithium and geothermal deposits within an area of 463 km2 around Mulhouse.
“No to the search for lithium in the Haut-Rhin”, that’s the title of a petition posted online Sunday July 28 by Jean-Luc Ginder, municipal councilor of Bollwiller (Haut-Rhin). The elected official protests against the two exclusive research permits granted to the company Vulcan Energy France by the Ministry of the Economy.
By two orders dated July 2 and 12, 2024, this French subsidiary of an Australian company received the government green light for the prospecting of lithium and geothermal deposits in the Haut-Rhin. A French first for this company which already operates in Germany, notably in Landau in the Palatinate where a lithium production plant is on track.
In Haut-Rhin, it will be able to prospect over an area of 463 km2 around Mulhouse. Forty-two municipalities are concerned: Baldersheim, Bantzenheim, Battenheim, Blodelsheim, Bollwiller, Brunstatt-Didenheim, Chalampé, Ensisheim, Feldkirch, Fessenheim, Habsheim, Heimsbrunn, Hirtzfelden, Hombourg, Illzach, Kingersheim, Lutterbach, Merxheim, Meyenheim, Morschwiller-le -Bas, Mulhouse, Munchhouse, Niffer, Ottmarsheim, Petit Landau, Pfastatt, Pulversheim, Raedersheim, Réguisheim, Reiningue, Richwiller, Riedisheim, Rixheim, Roggenhouse, Ruelisheim, Rumersheim-le-Haut, Sausheim, Staffelfelden, Ungersheim, Wittelsheim, Wittenheim and Zimmersheim.
As required by regulations, the municipalities concerned were consulted in 2023. With the exception of Hombourg and Ensisheim, all had expressed an unfavorable opinion on the project. This is precisely what outrages the Haut-Rhin elected official: “we consult you, you say no but we do it anyway, it’s like 49-3, it’s an insult to democracy!”
In this case, Vulcan Energie France is associated with the automobile manufacturer Stellantis (formerly PSA). The idea is to install a geothermal power plant on the site of the Peugeot factory in Sausheim by 2026. The agreement plans to supply the manufacturer with renewable energy but also with lithium, a mineral essential for the production of electric vehicle batteries.
On paper, the project is promising but “there are too many unknowns, believes Jean-Luc Gringer, we need more precise analyses, we must delay because the consequences could be very serious, we fear for our water table and then in Bollwiller, we already have experience of the problems generated by potash mines.” Furious at the “passivity” of his colleagues in the face of this new affront from the State, the elected official from Bollwiller therefore chose to launch a petition.
Stellantis and Vulcan Energie France have signed a partnership to supply the Peugeot plant in Sausheim with renewable energy and lithium by 2026. • © MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP
The mayor of Brunstatt-Didenheim, Antoine Viola, pleads for concerted action. “All the mayors concerned are very skeptical, even the city of Basel in Switzerland has just withdrawn from a geothermal project.” The councilor goes even further: “I don’t even want us to see if there is lithium in the Haut-Rhin because if we find any, it’s over, we will become a territory of interest national and there will be no one left to protect us, it will be an environmental and visual disaster, not to mention the seismic risks.” Antoine Viola relies on Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération (M2A) to set up joint action against the decision of the Ministry of the Economy.
But the situation is tricky because the environmental and economic issues are considerable. Fabien Jordan, the president of the M2A, also contests the government’s method. “It’s unacceptable, we set up a consultation committee and ultimately the decision came from Paris in the greatest secrecy.”
At the same time, he recalls the territory’s interest in helping Stellantis. The manufacturer intends to achieve carbon neutrality by 2038, with a 50% reduction in its CO2 emissions by 2030. “We support Stellantis in its decarbonization approach, it is positive for our territory” says Fabien Jordan. The agreement with Vulcan would also secure the manufacturer’s presence in Haut-Rhin, which is still the leading private employer in Alsace.
There is therefore, according to the president, a compromise to be found, prospecting perimeters to be redefined to reconcile everyone’s interests. Fabien Jordan intends to bring together all the elected officials concerned before the end of August to establish an action strategy. One of the levers could be the legal challenge to the authorizations issued to Vulcan Energie France by the State. The decree having appeared on July 11, 2024 in the official journal, elected officials have until September 11, 2024 to attack.