"Jeju 2nd Airport bird collision risk is serious...should be completely reviewed"
Emergency Residents' Assembly calls for full review of Seongsan-eup's second airport plan
"4 migratory bird nesting sites scattered within 8km...8.3 times more dangerous than current airport"
"MOLIT plan should be reviewed...Oh Young-hoon, pre-verify issues"
Press conference of the Jeju Emergency Residents' Council for Jeju 2nd Airport on the 4th. ⓒHeadline Jeju
As the initial trigger of the Jeju Air passenger plane crash at Muan Airport was found to be a 'bird strike' (bus strike), there are calls for a complete review of the project plan for the construction of Jeju's second airport.
This is due to the fact that there are four migratory bird migration sites scattered around Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo-si, where the second airport is planned to be built, raising the risk of bird collisions.
The environmental impact assessment process for the second airport project, whose basic plan was announced in September last year, will begin in earnest this year, but verification of the risk of bird collisions is expected to emerge as the biggest issue.
The 'Jeju 2nd Airport Ganghwa Jeju Emergency Residents' Council, comprised of civil society organizations in Jeju Island, held a press conference at the Jeju Headquarters of the Democratic Trade Union Confederation on the morning of the 4th and demanded a complete review of the second airport construction plan.
The groups said, "If birds are safe, people are safe," and demanded, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport should completely review the Jeju Airport 2 plan."
The Emergency Residents' Council cited a review of the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment by the Korea Environment Institute (KEI), a national research institute, as evidence, saying, "The risk of bird collisions at the second airport will be up to 8."The risk of bird collision at the second airport is up to 8.3 times that of the current Jeju Airport," and criticized, "Nevertheless, we are pushing ahead with the second airport while ignoring these opinions."
In addition, "The bird skeletons that were said to be only 8 were changed and admitted to be 153, and there were no conservation measures for the bird skeletons and no verification of safety," and "No measures were taken to prevent bird collisions and preserve habitats.
"In the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment for the second airport, MOLIT states that it has surveyed 13 kilometers, which is wider than the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard, for bird attracting facilities such as pig farms, orchards, and food processing plants that cause bird collisions," he added, "As if it has reviewed bird attracting facilities more strictly than global standards, but the ICAO also sets a 13-kilometer radius around airports. The reason for this is that about 99% of bird collisions occur within a 13-kilometer radius of the airport."
The Residents' Assembly emphasized that "the fish farms that MOLIT excluded from the field survey are representative bird attractors in Jeju." "Birds are very sensitive to smell, so they gather just by the fishy smell of fish farm discharge water, and even respond to the smell from sashimi restaurants, so the ICAO standard includes restaurants as bird attractors."
"The MOLIT surveyed fish farms are offshore fish farms, while the 78 onshore fish farms within the scope are described as fishing facilities, not fish farms," he said. "The Strategic Environmental Assessment was passed and the Basic Plan was promulgated without any mention of how onshore fish farms are related to bird attraction or how the problem will be solved."
Press conference of the Jeju Emergency Residents' Council for Jeju 2nd Airport on the 4th. ⓒHeadline Jeju
도민회의는 "국토부는 공항 건설로 예상되는 문제에 대해서 양돈장 2개소 매입처럼 해소가 가능한 부분은 밝히지만, 그렇지 않은 부분에 대해서는 감추고 영향을 축소하고 있다"며 "결국 이런 안전 불감증과 비전문성이 12.29참사를 부른 것"이라고 강조했다.
이어 "비상도민회의 환경조사위원회는 국토부가 감추려 하는 조류서식지 피해와 안전문제를 집중적으로 조사해 밝힐 계획"이라며 "우리는 새들의 안전이 사람의 안전이라고 확신하며, 더 이상의 참사가 발생하지 않도록 국토부는 제2공항을 비롯한 신공항 계획에 대해 전면 재검토하라"라고 밝혔다.
또 "오영훈 도정은 영혼없는 환경영향평가 검증 운운 말고, 해소되지 않은 쟁점에 대해 사전 검증하라"라고 요구했다.
한편 도민회의는 환경부를 통과한 제2공항 전략환경영향평가서와 관련해 지난 3일 국회에서 기자회견을 열고 조류 충돌 위험이 축소되는 등 조작.부실 의혹이 있는 만큼, 이를 검증하기 위한 환경영향평가 거짓·부실 검토 전문위원회를 개최할 것을 요구하는 진정서를 제출했다고 밝혔다. <헤드라인제주>
Press conference of the Jeju Emergency Residents' Council for Jeju 2nd Airport on the 4th. ⓒHeadline Jeju
