2024-01-15 08:32:28
“Mega basins”: the proposed LFI law establishing a moratorium withdrawn
It was predictable: the France Insoumise bill “aimed at establishing a moratorium on the deployment of mega basins” did not pass the threshold of the Assembly’s sustainable development and regional planning committee. National. It was withdrawn in plenary session. But the committee work is instructive.
I had talked to you – perhaps “dwelling” – on a proposed law from France Insoumise, carried by Ms. Clémence Guetté, in “Mégabassines”: what air, what air brewing in the National Assembly! » .
Let us recall the text of the proposed single article (legislative file):
“In a context of climate change and due to the impacts on water resources and their ecological, economic and social consequences, a moratorium is established suspending the issuance of authorizations for the construction of mega basins as provided for by articles L . 214 1 et seq. of the Environmental Code.
Pending legislative reform in this area, this moratorium is established for a period of ten years from the promulgation of this law, including for projects currently under review. »
This text was examined by the Committee on Sustainable Development and Regional Planning on Tuesday November 21, 2023.
Unsurprisingly, it was rejected. The amendment proposals which tended to modify or supplement it fell, were withdrawn or even rejected. The text was supported by the components of NUPES, with more or less enthusiasm, and rejected by the other groups.
A report of rare objectivity (irony)
Report No. 1902 contains the report of Ms. Clémence Guetté and the report of the commission’s proceedings.
We will not be surprised when reading the report by Ms. Clémence Guetté, which is very oriented.
She even sought arguments from Chile where “mega-basins have favored the appropriation of water resources by large agricultural operations”, according to Courrier International and Reporterre, and in Spain, which has just undergone a period of extraordinary drought (as if that were relevant to France).
We will have avoided a reference to Franco for Spanish hydrological developments, but not to Pinochet for those of Chile.
According to the report, “ [l]The hydrobiologist Mr. Christian Amblard confirmed, during his hearing, that “the regions of Spain where the most developments have been made to constrain the water cycle are the regions which today suffer the most drought.” » A fantastic truism: these regions are those where we were already suffering from a lack of water before the developments! And also a trick, because we are trying to make people believe that it is the developments that cause or increase drought.
During her trip to Spain, Ms. Clémence Guetté will have met, in particular, two deputies and coordinators of Izquierda Unida in Aragon and the president of the Chamber of Agriculture of Zaragoza who, it is undoubtedly a coincidence, is also an “agricultural trade unionist member of the Via Campesina”.
The agriculture that feeds us is not spared either, the “mega-basins” having, as we know (irony), vocation to serve a form of agriculture that these well-fed people vilify. But that did not prevent Ms. Clémence Guetté from visiting two… organic farms.
Farmers pay for water… But “ [l]These basins in fact artificially maintain the water consumption of irrigating farmers without encouraging the savings necessary to share the resource fairly. »
Ignorance of the basic principles of agronomy and economics is also present: “They are also costly for the farmer, who contributes to the construction, maintenance and operating costs, and must be profitable as such; which leads to perverse effects by encouraging overconsumption of water in order to maintain crops with high added value, largely intended for export. »
Ah, export… and corn… “Corn represents more than a third of irrigated areas, even though 40% of corn produced in France is exported. »
Let us quote once more Mr. Christian Amblard: he “denounced “a false solution, including in the very short term”, having the effect of “delaying the evolution of agricultural systems towards agroecological production modes respectful of the environment and the human health” “. Everything in this statement is false, and we wonder what human health has to do with it.
For this “evolution”, LFI has its own vocabulary: “bifurcation” of the “agricultural model” (the latter expression being widely used). Towards what? “The water issue is the most complete example of the need for a collectivist response to the ecological emergency in the 21st century. It is intertwined with social, democratic and peace emergencies which make sharing, planning and collective decision-making necessary. »
Selective auditions
Let’s leave Gosplan’s fantasies behind. The auditions are also somewhat surprising.
The FNSEA and the Irrigants de France were essential, as was the Confédération Paysanne, an enthusiastic supporter if not co-organizer of the anti-basin movement. The Rural Coordination, although the second largest farmers’ union, was ignored.
Apart from that, France Nature Environnement, Bassines Non Merci, the Deux-Sèvres Chamber of Agriculture and the two ministries concerned (agriculture and environment) – the Loire-Bretagne Water Agency having produced a written contribution.
The presentation of the report leaves something to be desired when it comes to a “Round Table of Researchers”. Three names are preceded by a hyphen: Ms Florence Habets and Emma Haziza and Mr Christian Amblard… Other researchers notoriously anti-pools must have had a pool.
For those who have a more realistic vision of the problems, we have undoubtedly lost the addresses. Two members of the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM) were certainly interviewed, but nothing was included in the report.
The list continues with Ms. Gabrielle Bouleau, researcher in political science at Lisis, INRAE, specialist in water policies. It is impossible to say whether she was a member of the round table or interviewed separately. For the agronomic aspects of the irrigation question? No one from INRAE (but, given its excesses, we won’t really complain regarding it)!
Note that Ms. Emma Haziza appears as “hydrologist and speaker, president of the Mayane association”. In fact, Mayane is a kind of conglomerate with a series of companies.
To hell with the rule of law!
The debates in committee were rather civil, even if there were some acrimonious exchanges. Obviously, there is a fraction of our political staff who have difficulty “withstanding” the presence of deputies from a certain political group who are nevertheless elected by a majority of the population in their respective constituencies…
What should interest us more are the diverse and varied amendment proposals. But doing a detailed analysis would be too tedious. Let us therefore be content with proposal CD 35 from the group – or subgroup of NUPES – of the Greens.
After the single article of the LFI proposal which provided for a 10-year moratorium, the Greens wanted to add an article prohibiting the construction of “substitute reserves intended for irrigation” of more than 20,000 cubic meters.
There, we are no longer in the field of “megabasins”, but rather in that of paddling pools: some six or seven Olympic swimming pools or a football field for international matches under three meters of water, enough to irrigate a few hectares.
To hell with legislative rationality!
But this is accompanied not only by the stopping of construction projects not yet completed or not yet examined, including those which would have been authorized according to the applicable rules.
And for good measure, “ [l]The substitute reserves intended for irrigation constructed must be dismantled before January 1, 2026.
In proposals CD 25 to 28 of the same group – in fact a component of CD 35 with variations, for example on the deadline for demolition – the term used is “deconstructed”… A touching euphemism!
Let us note – for fun – an extract from the explanatory memorandum of proposal CD 35: “Secondly, it prohibits new basins, and organizes the construction of existing basins, given the impact of these basins on our environment, the state of the resource, and the water grabbing associated with it. »
No, not the construction… the dismantling, that is to say the waste of public and private funds in the name of ideology, the questioning of the cultivation systems and the economic viability of the farms of the irrigators and , ultimately, of our food sovereignty.
These people aspire to rule…
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