Will administrative justice slow down the Seine-Nord Europe Canal project? By 2030, 107 kilometers of waterways must be created to connect the Oise at Compiègne to the Escaut canal in the North. The canal will therefore pass through Picardy, in the south of the Oise and the south-east of the Somme. The work has already started but two environmental associations, Protection du Territoire Seine-Escaut and Nord Nature Environnement, are attacking the project with an appeal filed on December 6 before the administrative court of Amiens. They contest the environmental authorization of the project. Authorization signed at the beginning of August 2024 by the prefects of the 4 departments concerned including Somme and Oise.
In this appeal, the associations point out numerous irregularities. Particularly on the protection of certain species present along the canal route. “We found lots of species that are not in the exemption granted to developers”details Bernard (not his real name), member of the MégaCanal Non Merci collective, who opposes the project. “There are between 140 and 160 protected or endangered species which have obtained an exemption, but when we seriously analyze the subject, we realize that there are at least forty species which are not taken taken into account.”
“Animals must be able to protect themselves during construction”
What also worries opponents of the Canal are the environmental arrangements created to compensate for the workinsufficient in their eyes: “A lot of compensation will be put in place with embankments. They will only really be able to attract biodiversity in 5 years, 10 years, or perhaps for certain species in 50 years”adds Bernard. “So of course, we cannot launch compensation 50 years before a construction site, but the minimum is that they be carried out before the start of the work so that the animals can also escape or protect themselves during the construction site. .” Contacted by France Bleu Picardie, the Seine-Nord Europe Canal company, which refuses to comment on the appeal, refers to his brief submitted during the environmental authorization. She notably assured that she had designed more than 1,200 hectares dedicated to biodiversity.
Another problem, to request environmental authorization, the Seine-Nord Canal company relied on a hypothesis of global warming limited to 1.4 degreeswhile the State is already asking to prepare for an increase in temperatures of 4 degrees: “No one could have imagined the importance of the floods in Valencia in Spain not so long ago. There are already floods in the North and we are not at all safe from similar things. So relying on “histories” to be able to make forecasts is not very serious.”
No hearing for a year
Finally, the appeal denounces the absence of truly alternative solutions for the transport of goodsparticularly rail: “There are four inland ports along the canal, but they are not all connected to the railway. When the Canal company says that this will reduce road traffic, it is false! The profitability of the Canal depends on growth in traffic.”
Contacted by France Bleu Picardie this Tuesday, the administrative court of Amiens affirms that there will be no no hearing on this appeal for at least a year.
