By Guérande editorial staff
Published on
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The Nantes administrative court annulled on Thursday December 17, 2020 the anti-pesticide decrees which had been taken in September and October 2019 by the mayors of Nantes, Rezé, La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, Saint-Malo-de-Guersac en Loire- Atlantic but also Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix in Maine-et-Loire.
No competence of the municipalities according to the Prefecture
These decrees, which prohibited under conditions the use of phytosanitary products near houses and public places, had already been the subject of provisional suspensions at the request of the State services: they considered that this type of measure fell within the scope of their prerogatives, and not those of the municipalities.
“The mayor cannot invoke an emergency […] since it does not have the technical competence to assess the scientific elements relating to phytosanitary products ”, thus argued the Prefecture of Loire-Atlantique about the decree taken by the mayor of Saint-Malo-de- Guersac.
“There is no evidence of a situation of extreme emergency creating a particularly serious and imminent danger for the population.”
Alain Michelot – who was succeeded by his deputy for town planning Jean-Michel Crand after the last municipal elections – had nevertheless highlighted the “numerous French, European and international scientific publications” which “attest to the harmful impacts” of pesticides on biodiversity and public health.
“The duty and responsibility of a mayor”
The former mayor of Saint-Malo-de-Guersac – located in the Brière marshes, near Saint-Nazaire – had also taken advantage of a European Parliament resolution, which in October 2017 asked the European Commission and EU member states not to allow the use of glyphosate for individuals.
“The mayor has the duty and the responsibility to take […] any measure likely to prevent and put an end to all pollution on the territory of its municipality, ”thus underlined the municipality in its writings.
“State deficiency”
Its territory is also located in Natural area of ecological, faunistic and floristic interest (Znieff), Area of importance for the conservation of birds (Zico) and Natura 2000, she recalled before the administrative justice.
Alain Michelot also justified this intervention outside its usual scope by the “deficiency” of the State in the fight against pesticides. “It is impossible for the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses) to have a detailed assessment of the quality of water at the local level”, repeated the mayor of Saint-Malo. -de-Guersac before the administrative tribunal of Nantes.
Micro-pollutant saturation
He agreed that the use of pesticides was “not very widespread” in an agricultural environment on the territory of his municipality, but phytosanitary products “pass through the waters of the Brière-Brivet watershed via the watercourse. du Brivet ”which crosses Saint-Malo-de-Guersac, underlined the local elected representative.
“This contribution to the marsh areas currently saturated with micro-pollutants only increases the poor state of the environment,” lamented the mayor. One of the groundwater bodies of the watershed upstream of the town is downgraded, due to pesticides… ”
“If some molecules like Dirvon are not authorized as pesticides, they are accepted in the composition of certain products […] like defoamer. “
The glyphosate pissers argument
Finally, the town argued that one of its residents had joined the “citizen group of involuntary glyphosate peers”, that her urine tests had revealed a “high rate” of pesticides and that complaints had been lodged with the court of Saint-Nazaire in particular for “endangering the life of others”.
Johanna Rolland, the mayor (PS) of Nantes, had justified her decision by the fact that her city “no longer uses phytosanitary products in any of the parks and gardens, green spaces and cemeteries” of which it owns.
In Nantes, a “Zero pesticides” charter
“The fight against synthetic pesticides is legitimate, one million species on Earth being threatened, that is one in eight”, she insisted, while Nantes has had a “Zero pesticides” charter for 18 years.
The mayor of the neighboring town of La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, Fabrice Roussel, had highlighted the fact that a “significant number” of houses were “in the immediate vicinity” or “under the wind” of cultivated agricultural land.
“General allegations”
But “the precautionary principle could not have the object or the effect of allowing a public authority to exceed its field of competence and to intervene outside its fields of attribution”, reframes the administrative court of Nantes in the judgment concerning Saint-Malo-de-Guersac, similar to the other four.
“The only general allegations of the municipality, in support of which the municipality only produces a map of the quality of surface water […] as well as a press article on “twenty-six involuntary nazairian glyphosate pissers” […] do not allow to establish pollution by phytosanitary products […] which would expose the inhabitants of the town […] to a serious and imminent danger ”, concludes the administrative court.
Rezé’s wish nevertheless validated
In the case of the municipality of Rezé, the judges nevertheless rejected the request for annulment of a “wish” from the municipal council which had “given discharge” to the mayor of the time, Gérard Allard (PS), to take a such anti-pesticide decree. Yet he came to contribute to “agri-bashing”, lamented the Loire-Atlantique prefecture.
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