the Port of Bordeaux accused of polluting residents

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“The white cloud of smoke was escaping from here,” Hélène begins. From her balcony, which overlooks the port, she points out the functional form of refit of the Bassins à flot. Port employees carry out transport activities there. outdoor ship repair barely 15 meters from the residences, and this is precisely what has been stuck for years.

“They poison us with impunity,” says the resident and general secretary of the Bassins à Flot (Devbaf) association for the defense of the environment and quality of life.

As yet another example, the recent refit of an old Batcub shuttle created an imposing “cloud of pollution” which went up to the houses. With the idea of ​​“taking the Port red-handed”, the residents went so far as to involve a bailiff end of November to observe the nuisances.

The transformation of the neighborhood and port activities

In just ten years, the Bassins à Flot district has been completely transformed. Residences, businesses and schools have appeared on industrial wastelands. In total, some 15 000 habitants now populate the neighborhood, many of them installed along the port.

But at the same time, the Grand Maritime Port of Bordeaux (GPMB) has also resumed its activities on this area that he had “abandoned for a long time”, explains Isabelle, member of Devbaf. They had in fact been moved upstream of the river in the 1970s, until the arrival of Alain Juppé in 1995, determined to give a second life to the Bassins à flot docks.

“But Alain Juppé refused to allow the Port to carry out open-air refit, support the members of Devbaf. Everything changed with the arrival of a new municipality and, at the same time, the new director of the GPMB, Jean-Frédéric Laurent, in 2019″, (even if the forms of refit were reopened in 2017, editor’s note).

The bailiff overcome by coughing fits

Since then, local residents have stood up in particular against the open-air careening a few meters from their homes and against the water pollution that they suspect the Port of causing.

Already in January, they demonstrated to denounce the “disastrous” consequences of these activities for their health. Before summoning the Port for summary proceedings, without winning the case. So this new episode of pollution, the “white cloud”, is a bit too many times.

In a document thatBordeaux news was able to consult, the bailiff mandated by the association noted the presence of a “cloud of smoke” and claimed to feel discomfort “in the throat and (…) breathing”, before explaining that he was “personally having coughing fits unusual” following his arrival.

“And this is far from the first time that this has happened,” emphasize the members of Devbaf. In 2022, for example, during the cutting of an old 350-ton carrier boat, a large cloud of black smoke escaped after the tar which made up the metal sheets had caught fire.

Activities incompatible with the proximity of homes?

Today, the members of the association hope to be able to rely on the bailiff’s report to reiterate their request: “We want the Port to conduct a environmental impact studyto prove the incompatibility of its activities with the proximity of residences. »

Since 2011 – when there was almost no no dwelling around refit forms – none impact study was not conducted. Including when the GPMB filed a building permit for the renovation of Hangar 37, intended to accommodate a refit and naval architecture company.

“Avoid the impact study at all costs”

This permit was revoked by the administrative court in May. And for good reason: the court explains that the Port declared the base of the project (the land on which the construction must be erected) on “a plot of 6,513 m²« .

However, the project actually encompasses “the entire northern infrastructure of floating basin No. 1”, i.e. “an area of ​​at least 80,000 m²”.

For Hélène and Isabelle, it is obvious: if the GPMB only declared the 6,000 m²it is precisely “because they want at all costs to avoid submitting an environmental assessment”, that the law requires for projects over 10,000 m².

The court therefore asked the Port to regularize these “ formal defects » by January 2025 and will decide at that time whether or not to submit an impact study.

What does the GPMB say?

The Port, for its part, remains stuck to its positions. Already in January, the administrative and financial director of the GPMB Renaud Piecard regretted the lack of tangible evidence concerning the serious allegations made by local residents.

He insisted on the fact that the Port is subject to numerous regulations and regular state controls – due to its classification as an installation classified as environmental protection.

Contacted by Bordeaux newsthe Grand Maritime Port of Bordeaux this time did not wish to communicate on the subject.

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