"Two Quarry Complexes in One Village? Re-examine the Approval Process from Scratch"

The Committee Against Quarry Complexes in Gusu-ri, Jincheon-gun, North Chungcheong Province, has urged relevant authorities to "re-examine all approval processes from scratch" regarding the development of two quarry complexes in their village.

Eighty residents of Gusu-ri, members of the committee, held a protest in front of the North Chungcheong Provincial Office yesterday (July 8), raising their voices by saying, "How can there be two quarry complexes in one village? Residents cannot possibly live amidst stone dust and noise."

Currently, Company A, which has been operating a quarry in Gusu-ri, is pushing to expand its quarry complex to a scale of 280,000 square meters and is awaiting a designation review by the North Chungcheong Province Mountain Management Committee after completing an environmental impact assessment.

In addition, Company B is pursuing the development of a new 330,000-square-meter quarry complex and is currently preparing for an environmental impact assessment.

Lee Won-gil, chairman of the committee, urged, "Only a few village heads attended the environmental impact assessment briefing for Company A, and the right of residents to participate, which should be guaranteed procedurally, was not properly ensured," adding, "The environmental impact assessment must be conducted again."

He continued, "The new quarry complex is scheduled to be built just 320 meters away from an elementary school," and added, "We will fight to the end to protect the residents' living grounds."

An official from North Chungcheong Province stated, "We have conveyed the residents' request for a re-evaluation to the Geum River Basin Environmental Office, which conducted the environmental impact assessment for Company A's quarry complex," and added, "We plan to deliberate on whether to designate the quarry complexes by comprehensively reflecting the opinions and grievances of the residents."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.