"Seveso in Vernouillet, no", summed up a sign during the demonstration on November 6 in Dreux (Eure-et-Loir), which gathered around a hundred people.
The residents joined by local elected officials refuse to see a high-threshold Seveso-classified warehouse, in other words at high risk for the environment, set up in the Porte Sud business zone.
In Vernouillet, FM Logistic acquired in 2018 a plot of 14 hectares to set up a giant warehouse of 70,000 square meters, with an investment of 70 million euros.
“We have demand for perfumes, medicines, care and hygiene products,” says Yannick Buisson, managing director of this company which plans to create 150 jobs.
Warehouses, not a factory
The trauma of the fire at the Lubrizol plant in Rouen, located a good hour's drive from Dreux, is very present. “Lubrizol is a factory. We will not manufacture anything on site, makes a point of clarifying Yannick Buisson. We already operate 18 Seveso classified warehouses, including 8 high threshold. There has never been an incident. »Relaying the fears of residents, the elected officials of the agglomeration wonder about the proximity of a site classified Seveso high threshold. Especially since FM Logistic modified its project along the way. “The Dreux hospital is only 1,500 meters from the site. In the event of a fire and a plume of smoke, it will be affected. How to evacuate a hospital which is responsible for receiving emergencies? Where would the injured go if there was an incident? », Asks Pierre-Frédéric Billet,mayor (LR) of Dreux and chairman of the board of directors of the hospital.
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“It is not so much the dangerousness of the stored products, which remain the same, but the volumes that make us change category.
We will have fire walls, isolated cells and a modern fire prevention system ”, tries to reassure Yannick Buisson.
Beyond the environmental issue, there is that of employment.
“We prefer to welcome companies with more qualified jobs, which are unlikely to disappear with automation,” explains Mayor Pierre-Frédéric Billet, vice-president for economic development of the community of municipalities.
"Our 27,000 employees are trained, and they progress in the company, while some did not necessarily have a diploma at the start", answers Yannick Buisson.
The public inquiry has just ended.
The investigating commissioner will submit his report by the end of November.
The prefecture should render its decision, authorization, or refusal, at the beginning of next year.