By Sheri Lange

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France is pushing back on wind turbines. This is what unity looks like. This is what it looks like to have leaders with a backbone, who stand with and stand up for their people. 

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“‍LATHUS-SAINT-RÉMY, France, July 22 - In a powerful show of unity, over 40 elected officials—including mayors, councilors, and a senator—gathered Tuesday on a historic bridge in western France to celebrate the cancellation of a major wind turbine project.

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But the message went far beyond local victory.

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The event, held in Lathus-Saint-Rémy (Province of Vienne), marks a turning point in France’s wind energy debate: an increasingly coordinated revolt by institutional France—mayors, departmental leaders, regional planners—against what they call the “industrial colonization” of rural landscapes.

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The protest follows the annulment of a project involving four windmills, including two towering 240 meters (800 ft) high —among the tallest ever planned in France. 

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The Bordeaux administrative court ruled in favor of the municipality, after years of litigation and grassroots mobilization.

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“We’re not just celebrating a court ruling—we’re drawing a line,” said Mayor Antoine Selosse.

“Elected officials across the country are standing up to protect their territories, their populations, and their democratic authority".

”With more than 74 windmills already visible in the area, local representatives say enough is enough.

“France’s rural heartland is being sacrificed without consent,” said Senator Bruno Belin. .

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This isn’t ecological transition—it’s democratic regression.”

Jean-Louis Butré, president of the French environmental group Fédération Environnement Durable, which backed the protest, stated: 

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This marks a major rupture.

It’s an open, organized pushback by local institutions.

Elected officials are saying no.

Rural France is rising against the industrial takeover of its landscapes.

The social acceptance of wind power is dead.”

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