“There are evenings, it is untenable. We feel that it is toxic. Sophie has lived near the port of Saint-Malo for six years and can no longer bear the odors that invade the air at least once a week. Just like Catherine, installed here for a year and a half. "It would almost take a mask to wander sometimes. Everyone knows that it comes from Timac Agro but we cannot say anything because it is one of the main employers in the city, ”she laments.
The company, which has two factories in Saint-Malo, produces fertilizers. For the past few months, the silence has started to break. In the wake of the Osons! Citizen association, living Brittany and Brittany's waters and rivers then rose to the plate. Alerted, the Regional Directorate for the Environment (DREAL) checked the atmospheric emissions from the two plants for the first time in May 2018. The result: ammonia concentration levels six to fourteen times higher than the regulations.
The accused Timac Agro fireplaces
Despite a formal notice from the State services in the summer of 2018, recent measures have again shown overruns, sometimes higher than those observed in 2018. According to the self-monitoring report that we were able to consult, the emissions of '' at the end of the chimney reach nearly 700 mg / m³ in October 2019 and even 720 the following month while the regulatory value is 50 mg / m³.
"By realizing these slippages, we asked for a new meeting with the operator and we informed two associations to act as transparency", explains Sébastien Mollet, head of DREAL in Ille-et-Vilaine. These new offenses resulted, according to sub-prefect Vincent Lagoguey, "an administrative penalty of 5000 euros". Production of ammonium sulfate was stopped at one of the sites, until the equipment was brought into conformity and new sensors were installed.
11% excess mortality from cancer
The sub-prefecture, however, wants to be reassuring about the health consequences. It is based on a study according to which "the calculated inhaled doses remain below the toxicological reference values". A conclusion that leaves Gaël Lefeuvre, director of Air Breizh, a dreamer of air quality in Brittany. “We know that ammonia is a very important precursor of fine particles. However, it does not appear anywhere in the study. The concentration of particles in Saint-Malo is 30% higher than that of Rennes, for example.
The impact of this air pollution on health has been scientifically proven and the particles classified as carcinogenic for humans. However, according to the local health diagnosis of communities in the country of Saint-Malo, there is an excess mortality by cancer of 11% compared to the national level. When asked, Timac Agro did not wish to answer our questions.