To protest against the A 69 motorway, environmental activists play squirrels

The A 69 motorway linking Toulouse to Castres continues to unleash passions. Witness Thomas Brail, founder of the national tree monitoring group (GNSA) and two of his colleagues. To protest against the construction site, the latter decided to gain height, at least physically speaking.

They took refuge in a tree located opposite the Occitanie regional council. The goal of the maneuver? Call on Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie region and who supports, quite logically for the dynamism of the territory she manages, the motorway project. The activist explained his project in a video published on social networks:

“We are here because we have no feedback from Carole Delga regarding the requests we made. So we are here to remind you that there are appeals on the merits which are not judged. We must wait for the appeals to be judged before cutting down the trees and continuing this harmful work.”

The highway, a positive result for the trees?

The fact remains that all recent legal actions taken by environmental activists have been dismissed. The highway project also works with ecological compensation. And these are far from negligible.

While 200 street trees will be cut down, twice as many will be replanted. 20 structures dedicated to large wildlife and 56 passages dedicated to small wildlife will also be built. The highway route was also designed to avoid four areas of major ecological issues. Which shouldn’t have simplified things.

This must be put into perspective with what the anti-A 69 environmental activists are proposing: namely, in particular, an on-site development of the current RN 126. However, the latter would require the cutting of… 1,500 trees! Did you say “solution”?

The fact remains that Carole Delga agreed to meet Thomas Brail, notably by setting one condition. In order for a debate to take place in accordance with the rules of the art, the representatives of the State, decision-makers of the motorway project, must be present. The region only finances the latter to the tune of… 2%! In the meantime, Thomas Brail, who also started a hunger strike, and his supporters consider this a victory. Let’s see how this evolves.