Electricity transport and environmental protection. Legal aspects

Electricity transport consists in high or very high voltage transmission, from production areas to distribution zones. It is done by air, underground or underwater power lines. Electricity transport is an necessary activity to make public electricity service work properly. It plays an important role in the country's energy security and consequently can't be interrupted. However, its immense network (with lines adding up to more than 100 000 kilometers), cannot avoid confrontation with others interests. From the beginning, it is admitted that electricity transport infringes on private property. From the start, its legal status has been determined in agreement with that interaction. Nevertheless, it is now admitted that electricity transport also damages the environment. However, this status had already been determined by taking into account its potential damage to private property. It is not at all adapted to the apprehension of the environmental problems. As a consequence, the damages caused to Mankind and Environment by transporting electricity are difficult to repair (part I). Therefore, they must be avoided. Thanks to the environmental law, electricity transport tried, first constraint, then voluntarily, to modify its ways of operating and adapt them to environmental interests. Nevertheless, these measures are still far from being sufficient. Although Environment appears in all phases of the activity (from the design to the removal, including the way the structure works and the various modifications), the measures devoted to its protection remain superficial. Their efficiency is relative. Their integration into the whole system is not effective (part II). However, in the context of the predicted development of the electricity transmission network, it is necessary to question the need to change the paradigm and, for a better conciliation place, Environment in the center of the activity. (author)