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Video length: 4 min
Aisne: a village’s fight against the polluting project of an industrial giant
Aisne: a village’s fight against the polluting project of an industrial giant
(France 2)
In Courmelles, in the Aisne, residents are fighting against a project being prepared by the industrial giant Rockwool. The factory that could be set up in the valley threatens to pollute the surrounding area, while homes are located 600 meters from the site.
A small village in the Aisne has gone to war against a multinational. Many residents of Courmelles, 1,800 inhabitants, many have put up banners hostile to the Danish group Rockwool on their houses. The world leader in rock wool production wants to set up its next factory there, which its detractors consider too polluting. Earthworks have already begun on this 40-hectare site, where a few prefabricated buildings have been installed.
“People may not imagine it, but from all over Soissons, from the plateau opposite, we will see chimneys which, potentially, could fill the valley with toxic smoke.”warns Thomas Wozniak, from the Stop Rockwool collective. This immense complex would be designed to produce 110,000 tons of insulation per year, topped with a 47-meter-high chimney. A figure announced by the industrialist himself alerts local residents: the smoke coming out of it would contain up to 800 tons of pollutants per year. The first houses are only 600 meters away. “If the factory is set up, I will leave, without thinking. And I think that many people from Soissons will leave.”warns Thomas Wozniak.
