Overview

• The administrative court will on June 17 assess the state’s September 2023 order extending the storage permit indefinitely for 42,000 tonnes of cyanide, arsenic and mercury waste.
• Mines de Potasse d’Alsace reports roughly a quarter of the planned concrete barriers has been installed, with work proceeding before any final legal ruling.
• Opponents including Sabine Drexler and Alsace Nature highlight collapsing galleries and the risk of mine flooding that could contaminate the aquifer supplying millions of people.
• Defence lawyers and public rapporteur Alexandre Therre argue that the mine’s severe degradation makes full waste extraction unsafe and that confinement best protects the environment.
• Nine cross-party Alsatian MPs have urged halting barrier construction and launching a new decontamination study, warning of irreversible pollution and multibillion-euro cleanup costs.