National Farmers' Association Demands Withdrawal of “Wind Power Setback Distances Ignoring Farmers’ Safety”

[Farm, Livestock & Fisheries News = Reporter Kim Jin-o]

Voices from the agricultural community and political circles are rising, demanding a complete revision of wind power facility separation distance standards that exclude safety measures for rural communities.

The National Farmers' Association held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center in Yeouido, Seoul on the 16th with Rep. Jeong Hye-kyung (Progressive Party, Proportional Representation) and the National 2 Million Rural Communities Revitalization National Wind Power Residents' Coalition, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the government's wind power separation distance enforcement ordinance and follow-up notice plan.

They pointed out that the renewable energy generation facility separation distance enforcement ordinance and follow-up notice plan confirmed by the Climate, Energy and Environment Ministry and scheduled to be implemented on the 18th lack any rural resident safety measures. The criticism is that the ordinance has been forcibly implemented as originally drafted without reflecting any of the concerns and requests that rural residents have continuously raised since the legislative notice stage. In particular, they raised questions about the fact that the notice plan stipulates that households with fewer than 5 units are not subject to even minimum separation distances, and that roadways where residents regularly pass and farmland where farmers work are excluded from protection targets.

The National Farmers' Association explained that the notice plan limits the targets for separation distance calculation to "housing under the Housing Act" and requires continuous resident registration from one year before applying for development permission. Even if residents are actually living there, if the period of resident registration is insufficient, they will be excluded from the household count, meaning that even a village with five houses can be classified as having fewer than 5 units if one house fails to meet the requirements, resulting in no separation distance protection whatsoever.

They particularly emphasized that a massive wind turbine over 200 meters tall has already toppled in Yeongdeok, Gyeongbuk, and damaged blades have flown approximately 300 meters in Yeongyang, Gyeongbuk, stressing that safe distances from residences and farmland where people live and work must be secured as a minimum baseline.

Participants called for △immediate halt and complete revision of wind power separation distance enforcement ordinance and follow-up notice plan △abolition of the provision excluding households with fewer than 5 units and guarantee of a minimum safety separation distance of 1.5km or more for all households with 1 or more units △abolition of the condition of housing under the Housing Act and one-year resident registration requirement, and recognition of all residential homes △guarantee of safe separation distance for roadways with resident traffic △guarantee of minimum safety separation distance of 1km or more for farmland.

An official from the National Farmers' Association said, "The standards prepared by the government are not resident safety measures but standards that exclude rural residents from protection targets," and "We will never overlook the government's act of sacrificing the lives and safety of rural residents under the pretext of expanding renewable energy."