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The French government has finally succumbed to pressure from environmentalists
and cancelled plans to build a dam on the Loire river at Serre-de-la-Fare.
Protesters have been occupying the site since 1989 and the plans had been
frozen. A second controversial dam at Chambonchard, on the Cher, a tributary
of the Loire, has also been cancelled.

Both dams were central to the Loire project, launched in 1982 to ‘domesticate’
the river, preventing flooding, increasing farm irrigation and ensuring
a minimum flow during dry seasons.

Two other dam projects, however, will go ahead. One is at Veurdre on
the Allier tributary. The other is a hydroelectric dam at Rochebut, already
built, which is to be raised by 20 metres, tripling its capacity.

Prime Minister Edith Cresson said the Loire river development authority
would be asked to sign a charter for the ‘integrated development’ of the
Loire. This would protect inhabitants from severe floods, guarantee water
supplies and preserve the natural environment. The authority was set up
to tame France’s last ‘wild’ river and defended the dam projects.

Serre-de-la-Fare is closest to the source of the Loire and was the focus
of protests. The proposed dam would have flooded river gorges and beauty
spots. The scrapping of the project has been greeted as a ‘symbolic victory’
by environmentalists.

But campaigners fear that the present policy on the Loire may only last
as long as the present government. The head of the authority, mayor of Tours,
Jean Royer, has said that he is ready to ‘sign with the next government’
what he was unable to sign with the current one.