Loyettes, an Unbuilt Dam: Breaking up the Rhône River's Geohistory

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(1)Loyettes, an Unbuilt Dam: Breaking up the Rhône River’s Geohistory Silvia Flaminio. To cite this version: Silvia Flaminio. Loyettes, an Unbuilt Dam: Breaking up the Rhône River’s Geohistory. Séminaire annuel du Labex DRIIHM, Oct 2019, Lyon, France. �halshs-03135101�. HAL Id: halshs-03135101 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03135101 Submitted on 8 Feb 2021. HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers.. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés..

(2) See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340309174. Loyettes, an Unbuilt Dam: Breaking up the Rhône River's Geohistory Poster · October 2019. CITATIONS. READS. 0. 6. 1 author: Silvia Flaminio University of Lausanne 18 PUBLICATIONS 17 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE. Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:. Habiter la rivière d'Ain XIX-XXIe siècle View project. All content following this page was uploaded by Silvia Flaminio on 31 March 2020. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file..

(3) Loyettes, an Unbuilt Dam: Breaking up the Rhône River's Geohistory Silvia Flaminio silvia.flaminio@ens-lyon.fr Université de Lyon - UMR 5600 / Université de Lausanne - IGD. 1.Context: Looking at Social and Ecological Changes. 2. Material & Methods To collect data on the Loyettes project: Oral histories were collected (n=17); Archivesdocuments were consulted: Archives municipales d'Anthon, Archives de la Frapna, Archives départementales du Rhône, Archives nationales.. Since its foundation the OHM Vallée du Rhône focused on events which led to changes and shifts in the Rhône River's planning and management. It highlighted in particular 2 periods characterized by major floods and their consequences: 1856 and 2003 (Fig. 1).. a v e n e G ke. The floods: A founding event 1856. 2003. Fig. 3. Collected data: Some examples (S. Flaminio, 2015-2017). La How to produce knowledge and participate in public debates?. r e iv. R e ôn. How to built a sustainable Rhône River?. The Rhône before hydraulic infrastructure. River planning (navigation, hydropower). Awareness of social, health, security and environmental consequences of the river's infrastrucutre. Fig. 1. Framework of the OHM Vallée du Rhône Source: Arnaud, 2018 (translated from). Ain Riv e. r. Rh. 3.The Loyettes dam project and the CNR's hydraulic mission. To further explore the trajectory of the Rhône River and identify other historical turning points, two projects were financed by the OHM-VR (Le Lay et al. 2015; 2017). Both these projects brought to consideration the case of the Loyettes dam (1979-1990) whose history is still little known.. The Compagnie nationale du Rhône (CNR) put forward its hydro-power project for the Upper Rhône in 1979.. Loyettes. L'Ain. Power plant A Power plant B. "Not only do these infrastructures [ie. Loyettes and another dam] present national economic interests but they are also useful on a regional scale" (CNR, 1982, doc. DT-82-762a) "Build Loyettes or die" (Le Monde, 1st August 1987). It included the Loyettes dam, at the confluence of the Ain and Rhône Rivers.. Le Rhôn 0. The project was presented as a necessity and alternatives were suggested (Fig. 4) to respond to the original project's criticism.. r. Power plant C. 1. ive. n Ai. e. R. 2 km. 1. Context and constraints The Rhône and Ain rivers. 2. Projects A (1980), B (1983) et C (1984) The Loyettes dam (projects A, B and C). Municipal boundaries. Weirs (projects A, B and C). Protected area (1984 plan). Dragging (projects B and C). Sources : IGN (BD TOPO, BD Géofla, BD Carthage), 2008 ; BD Carmen ; Archives départementales du Rhône (Dossier de Déclaration d'Utilité Publique du 15 février 1980 CNR, Cote : 3959W1185), Archives nationales (Cote : 19880002/12). Réalisation : S. Flaminio, sept. 2019. Power plants Headrace and tailrace canals Project A Project B Project C. Fig. 4. Map of the Loyettes dam projects. Power plant. By -p. as. se. ds. ec. tio n. (R. He. ad. rac. ec. an. al. hô. ne. ). Fig. 5. Archive documents of the CNR presenting the Upper Rhône Plan (1979) and the Loyettes dam project (1980).. 4. Opposing the dam: Aesthetics, Ecology and local concerns united. Rhône. River. An unprecedented coalition formed to contest the dam project. It brought together environmentalists, anglers, local residents and farmers.. Scientists produced knowledge on the unique ecology and geomorphology of the Ain-Rhône confluence (Amoros et al. 1986). The regional antena of the Ministry for Environment (Drae) decided to put forward a protected area project which would prohibit the building of the dam.. "We had lost one, two, three issues [on the Rhône River] so we said 'for this fourth one we must make it'. That's when we came up with the idea of putting forward a protected area at the same time as the dam was being debated [instead of only considering compensation measures]" (Interview 13, with a former Drae agent, 2015). "I remember the 'Wild Rhône' I used to know. The Amazonian Rhône! [...] I realised to what extent the project would destroy it all. [...] they were going to modify the Rhône's course and for me that was a lèse-majesté offence" (Interview 12, with a dam opponent, 2015). Fig. 5. Two anti-dam flyers showing the aesthetic and ecological consequences of the Loyettes project (Coordination pour la défense du fleuve Rhône et de la rivière d'Ain, n.d.). 5. Buried, Forgotten and... Resurrected: A New Conclusion? In. 1990, the French Prime minister approved the protected area and the dam's construction was prevented. "We helped improve river planning practices" (Interview 3, with a scientist, 2015). "A victory" (Lebreton, 1984) "Never remembered" (Interview 9, with an angler, 2015). According to some scientists, this decision —the victory the dam opponents were hoping for—had local consequences but also affected the planning and management of the Rhône River. Nevertheless, few people remember the controversy today and the protected area is rather neglected. Are new changes on their way? In June 2019, the CNR announced the company was planning a new dam on the Rhône, a few kilometers upstream from Loyettes. Fig. 6. Co-occurrences based on the 93 online public contributions on the CNR's relicensing project. "It seems as if the CNR is pulling out from its archives the Loyettes project which was once rejected by the population and for environmental reasons" (Public contribution 30th June 2019). International Symposium of Labex DRIIHM - 2019 Inter-Disciplinary Research Facility on Human-Environment Interactions - ANR-11-LABX-0010 7-9 October 2019 - ENS Lyon (France) View publication stats.

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