DEPECHE INFO. A whole war arsenal buried in the old Fauga powder magazine south of Toulouse
Ammunition dating from the Second World War, including shells, are still buried in the “Fauga storage area” which belonged to the SNPE. For fifteen years, this powder magazine has been the object of a standoff with the State. which, finally, since this summer has been discreetly examining the gigantic clean-up of this former industrial site.
It’s a time bomb. It is called the “Fauga storage area”. A former ammunition depot that once belonged to the National Society of Powders and Explosives (SNPE). This 50 hectare site, between the A64 and the Garonne, in the town of Fauga, is mined.
Under the ground, a few meters, even centimeters, lie innumerable quantities of munitions of war of German origin: bombs, shells and ammunition for mortars, rifle grenades, rockets, also dating from the Second World War and the period of operation of the site by SNPE.
Showdown between the State and SNC Labourdette
For fifteen years, a legal standoff has opposed a subsidiary of Eiffage Immobilier Sud, Snc Labourdette, owner of the site since 2003, to the Ministry of the Interior. In this legal and administrative imbroglio, passed by the highest jurisdictions including the Council of State, it is in particular question of the “major pyrotechnic depollution” of this parcel. An obligation from which, until recently, the State has avoided.
All around dozens of homes
All around, the area has urbanized over the past ten years. A stone’s throw from the center of this village of 2,100 inhabitants, between the Frantoupin and Roucade paths, around fifty individual houses are attached to the storage area, the enclosure of which, walled up and fenced, prohibits any access to the public. Only the elders who, for some worked on the spot, witnessed the first destruction of around thirty shells in 2006, and their removal. In 2017, following a new conviction by the Administrative Court of Appeal, the State announced “the imminent depollution of the area, scheduled for a period of at least 24 months” … However, the imminent official announcement of “Many site engines and specialized teams from the Civil Security and Crisis Management Directorate (DGSCGC) on the site” fizzled out.
Since then, nature has resumed its rights, and justice its course. ‘ONERA, in the town of Mauzac’. The SNPE operated the site from 1972 until 1994. Today, we can still see the old railway line spinning through clearings, embankments, poplar woods and fallow undergrowth, a mound of rubble. reinforced concrete, the merlons of the old furnaces overgrown with vegetation and the wild boars’ playground… Except for a few initiates, no one really suspects what the old storage area still houses. As for quantifying all this ammunition, “Nobody knows!” », Sighs the new mayor of Fauga, Jean-Marie Puig, who made this ZAC very cumbersome.
Surveys and surveys
However, since last June, the daily aisles and places of DGSCGC technicians on the site give a glimpse of the end of the tunnel. The State undertook this summer, in the greatest discretion, to clean up the area. “Civilian security personnel never enter the scene alone without the presence of a person in charge”, indicates a source, “the deminers have been carrying out surveys and scouting for nearly four months to assess the risk and the extent of pollution.
Before demining, these 50 hectares will still have to be cleared. It is a titanic job that costs several million euros. It will take at least three years and the intervention of “armored” vehicles. The State had even considered for a time to involve the Army … “, continues this witness. Because the Ministry of the Interior was again put on notice, on July 9, 2020 by the Administrative Court of Appeal of Bordeaux, to clean up the plot.
A fine of 1000 euros per day of delay
Failing that, a new injunction of 1,000 euros penalty per day of delay was served to him, to compensate the owner, the Snc Labourdette, as well as the municipality of Fauga “which did not touch a euro” specifies the mayor . In the meantime, this Eiffage subsidiary was acquired in 2019 by Solvéo Energie… and things have accelerated. The possibility of building a photovoltaic power station is being considered, once the pollution control has been assessed.
Solicited, neither the presidency of Solvéo Energie, nor the prefecture of Haute-Garonne which only confirms that “the first acts of depollution are engaged”, did not wish to comment.