An oil company has obtained the green light from the government to expand its oil drilling site in Seine-et-Marne. But residents and local elected officials are up in arms against the project which could pollute groundwater supplying drinking water to 180,000 people in the Paris region. For gains considered marginal…
In Seine-et-Marne, in the town of Nonville, two new oil wells could soon see the light of day. The operating company Bridge Energies, which wants to expand, has authorization from the prefecture but the Paris town hall is opposed to it. She appealed to the administrative court of Melun to cancel this authorization. She cites the risk at a nearby water catchment point which supplies 180,000 people with drinking water in Paris.
Local residents also do not want these new oil wells. A petition was even launched against this project by the Environnement Bocage Gâtinais association: “The platform is very close to homes, 150-200 meters away,” warns Fabiola Sustendal, the president.
Exploitation already brings its share of inconveniences on a daily basis, so the expansion inevitably worries: “Drilling stinks. In the middle of summer, people are forced to go home with their windows closed. It ruins people’s lives.” adds Fabiola Sustendal.
“Two incidents in ten years”
Despite the presence of risks for drinking water, the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure justifies the project by numerous and extensive controls on the operation. Insufficient for Jean-Claude Beillot, the mayor of Nonville: “We cannot leave two extraction and oil activities in the same place. We live with a sword of Damocles over our heads. The risk is low but it There have already been two incidents in ten years.
Oil leaks on the oil platform and surrounding roads which did not affect water quality. But the danger on the water pumped and distributed to 180,000 Parisians is very real according to Paris City Hall.
“To drill an oil well, you have to go 1,500m underground and cross the water tables,” recalls this Thursday on RMC and RMC Story Dan Lert, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of ecological transition and president of “ Water of Paris. “There are risks at the time of drilling and at the time of exploitation,” he warns.
“The risks of pollution are very high. This is an area where pollution can infiltrate very quickly, deep into the water tables. It would really be a potential ecological disaster if these drillings were definitively authorized,” warns Dan Aert .
According to him, it was former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne who “discreetly authorized” the extension of this oil concession, multiplying it by 5: “We have two new authorized drillings which will double oil production and therefore the risks.
75 barrels per day
“Inconsiderate risks for anecdotal gain because the production is not significant”, adds Dan Aert, while the operator currently produces 75 barrels of oil, a drop of water in the global ocean of black gold whose production in 2022 was 17.8 million barrels daily.
Under these conditions, the deputy mayor of Paris asks the government to abandon the project. And he assures, this extension of drilling “even worries the Minister of Health Frédéric Valletoux, deputy for the constituency until his appointment in March 2024: “In 2020, he wrote a letter where he said he was opposed to oil drilling due to the risk of water pollution. Today, I share this concern,” concludes Dan Aert.
Lucas Lauber with Guillaume Dussourt
