The protest aimed to oppose RTE's high-voltage overhead line project and call for the study of an alternative, underground solution. The gathering, organized by the collective THT 13-30, brought together 36 associations, including citizens, farmers, environmental defense groups, cultural and tourism professionals, and around a hundred elected officials from various political backgrounds.
These officials signed the “oath of elected officials for the future of Camargue, Crau, and Terre d’Argentée in favor of an alternative solution to the Very High Voltage overhead line”. RTE's project involves installing 180 pylons (60 to 90 meters high) along a 65 km route between Jonquières-Saint-Vincent (Gard) and Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône), crossing protected sites such as the Camargue Regional Natural Park and the Coussouls de la Crau Nature Reserve.
The 6 mayors affected by the route – Arles, Saint-Martin-de-Crau, Beaucaire, Bellegarde, Fourques, Jonquières-St-Vincent – read a joint statement: “decarbonize, develop, preserve, and decide together: this is the principle we collectively uphold for the future of our territories.”
The THT 13-30 collective, active for three years, reiterated its message: “Yes to decarbonization, but no to the overhead line solution.” Speakers including former Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen and Jean Jalbert, director of the Tour du Valat scientific station, highlighted the project's negative impacts on biodiversity, agriculture, and tourism. They presented an alternative solution, deemed minimally costly and safer.
The farmers' message was particularly moving, as 6 of them are summoned on Monday, September 21, to the Administrative Tribunal of Marseille for preventing RTE representatives from entering their land.
Patrick De Carolis, mayor of Arles, criticized the overhead line project, deeming it poorly suited to the territory and detrimental to the decarbonization and electricity supply needed by industry. He advocated for a solution that reconciles technological progress with territorial protection, stating: “Yes, we want industry. We want decarbonization. We want sovereignty. We want progress. But we also want to pass on this territory.”
