Réindustrialisation Fos Berre : adapter la surveillance de la qualité de l’air est impératif !

The industrial landscape of the Fos-sur-Mer and Étang de Berre region in Southern France is currently undergoing a massive transformation. As part of a national strategy to secure energy sovereignty and accelerate the green transition, the region is becoming a focal point for large-scale "re-industrialization" and decarbonization projects. However, this industrial renaissance has triggered a profound conflict between economic development goals and public health concerns. A coalition of environmental organizations and citizens’ groups has issued a formal appeal, demanding an urgent overhaul of the regional air quality monitoring infrastructure, arguing that current methods are woefully inadequate to assess the cumulative health impacts of these new industrial activities.

A Legacy of Environmental Fragility

The Fos-Berre industrial zone is one of Europe’s most significant petrochemical and logistical hubs. For decades, the local population has navigated the complex intersection of heavy industry and residential life. The recent push for re-industrialization—which includes the construction of new hydrogen plants, battery factories, and carbon capture facilities—has brought the region’s long-standing air quality concerns to the forefront of the political agenda.

Critics argue that the current expansion is occurring in a state of "general unpreparedness." While national authorities promote these projects as models of "green industry," local stakeholders contend that the monitoring systems designed to protect public health have actually regressed over the past fifteen years.

The Erosion of Monitoring Capacity

The core of the criticism centers on the degradation of the technical network responsible for tracking pollutants. Data provided by the coalition of concerned associations reveals that between 2011 and 2025, the region saw the closure of 24 fixed air quality monitoring stations. These closures were particularly concentrated in the western part of the department, which remains the primary site for both existing heavy industry and the majority of incoming projects.

Beyond the loss of physical infrastructure, the scientific scope of monitoring has been criticized for failing to keep pace with modern toxicological knowledge. The monitoring network currently struggles to provide robust data on:

• Ultrafine Particles (UFPs): Recognized by global health organizations as among the most hazardous due to their ability to penetrate deep into the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, these particles remain largely under-monitored.
• Emerging Pollutants: Substances of significant concern, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and heavy metals like cadmium, are not currently subject to consistent, permanent monitoring protocols, leaving a massive blind spot in local environmental health data.

Scientific Uncertainty and the Limits of Existing Studies

The friction between government assertions of safety and the lived reality of residents has been exacerbated by the limitations of recent scientific studies. Reports such as SCENARI 2, REVELA 13, and the BIS (Bassins Industriels et Santé) study have been presented by authorities to address public concern. However, these documents have been widely criticized for their methodological constraints.

SCENARI 2, for instance, evaluates theoretical health risks based on average emission declarations provided by industrial operators themselves. It lacks a clinical dimension, failing to account for the actual physiological health state of the local population. Similarly, the REVELA 13 study, which focused on specific cancer types like kidney and bladder cancer and acute leukemia, has been dismissed by experts as insufficiently representative of the broader spectrum of environmental health risks inherent to such a dense industrial environment.

The coalition argues that the reliance on "annual averages" creates a statistical "smoothing" effect. By averaging out pollution spikes, these figures mask the reality of acute exposure experienced by local residents during specific industrial processes or meteorological events.

The "One Health" Gap

A significant point of contention is the neglect of the "One Health" approach—a concept officially endorsed by the French government—which recognizes that human health is inextricably linked to the health of animals and the shared environment. Critics note that the current assessments fail to incorporate critical indicators of long-term health, such as:

• Neurodegenerative diseases and cognitive impairment, which recent research has increasingly linked to long-term exposure to atmospheric pollutants.
• Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that often go unrecorded in standard industrial health monitoring.
• Bioaccumulation and Zoonotic risks: The potential for industrial pollution to disrupt local biodiversity, thereby increasing the vulnerability of the region to zoonotic diseases and environmental degradation.

Chronology of Disengagement

The frustration among local stakeholders has been mounting for years, fueled by a perceived lack of transparency from regional authorities.

• 2011–2025: A decade and a half characterized by the systematic reduction of fixed air monitoring stations in the Western Bouches-du-Rhône.
• March 24, 2026: A formal letter was sent to the Regional Prefect by a coalition of associations, requesting a meeting to discuss the expansion of monitoring capacity. No official response has been recorded.
• May 6, 2026: A follow-up inquiry was submitted by European Parliament member Nora Mebarek. This request for dialogue regarding the health risks associated with the new industrial landscape also remains unanswered.
• Present Day: The coalition is now escalating its call for a "territorial dialogue," demanding that all stakeholders—including industrial operators, government agencies, and local community representatives—participate in the creation of a permanent, transparent, and robust monitoring system.

Implications for Industrial Policy

The situation in Fos-Berre serves as a litmus test for the European "Green Deal" and French industrial strategy. If the state intends to champion "virtuous" industrial projects, critics argue that the environmental standards accompanying these projects must be equally virtuous.

The lack of real-time, high-fidelity data is not merely a bureaucratic failure; it represents a significant barrier to scientific research. Without continuous, granular data, researchers cannot effectively study the synergistic effects of various pollutants—how the combination of different chemicals, even at low doses, might interact within the human body to produce long-term health complications.

Furthermore, the absence of transparency undermines public trust. For local communities, the "re-industrialization" of their region feels like a top-down mandate that ignores the health toll already paid by previous generations. The call for a new monitoring framework is not inherently anti-industrial; rather, it is a demand for "industrial accountability."

Moving Toward a Sustainable Framework

The associations—which include the Association Santé Environnement France, France Nature Environnement PACA, and several local environmental defense groups—are proposing a shift toward a collaborative management model. They advocate for:

1. Deployment of High-Resolution Sensors: Moving beyond static stations to a more agile network capable of tracking real-time fluctuations in air quality.
2. Independent Oversight: Ensuring that data collection and analysis are conducted by entities independent of the industrial operators to avoid conflicts of interest.
3. Expanded Health Surveillance: Integrating biological and longitudinal health studies that look beyond standard respiratory statistics to capture the full scope of environmental impact.
4. Transparent Public Reporting: Creating an accessible, real-time dashboard that allows vulnerable populations (such as the elderly, children, and those with pre-existing conditions) to make informed decisions about their daily activities.

As the Fos-Berre region continues to transform, the pressure on the government to reconcile its industrial ambitions with its public health responsibilities will only increase. For the residents, the question is not whether the region should be industrialized, but whether the price of that industrialization must be paid in the currency of their own long-term health. The demand for an adaptive, rigorous, and transparent surveillance system remains the essential condition for any future development in the region. Without it, the "green" label applied to these industrial projects will continue to be viewed with profound skepticism by those who live in their shadow.