Legal Battle Over Seongseosan Industrial Complex Power Plant Ends with Daegu City's Victory After 2 Years and 5 Months

Daegu City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] The controversy over the construction of the Seongseo Industrial Complex BIO-SRF power plant has concluded with a victory for Daegu City after 2 years and 5 months.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of the plaintiff, Reclean Daegu, the power plant operator, in the administrative lawsuit against Daegu City regarding the denial of permission to build the Seongseo Industrial Complex BIO-SRF power plant.

With the court ruling in favor of Daegu City, the administrative lawsuit that had been ongoing since June 2019 has come to an end.

The Seongseo Industrial Complex BIO-SRF power plant construction project involves building a power generation facility on a 4,966㎡ site within the Seongseo 2nd Industrial Complex in Dalseo-gu, which burns BIO-SRF, a solid fuel made from waste wood, to produce electricity and heat.

In June 2015, Seongseo ENG received project approval and began construction with a two-year timeline.

By May 2017, the project period was extended until the end of May 2019, and in September of that year, the project operator was changed to Reclean Daegu.

In 2018, opposition grew through signature campaigns, Blue House petitions, and resistance from political circles and local organizations, citing concerns that the operation of the power plant would pollute the air and negatively affect nearby residential areas.

At that time, Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin expressed at a press briefing his intention to use administrative power to prevent facilities opposed by citizens from being established.

Subsequently, Reclean Daegu requested an extension of the project period until May of this year in March 2019, citing delays in securing capital and difficulties in completing the project within the deadline.

The city rejected the extension in April of the same year, stating that the combustion process of solid fuels such as waste wood would emit large amounts of air pollutants that could harm the health of nearby residents.

Reclean Daegu filed an administrative lawsuit at the Daegu District Court in June of that year, and although both sides engaged in intense legal battles, all three trials ended with Daegu City’s victory.

Mayor Kwon said, “The promise to protect the urban industrial complex’s air environment for citizens has been kept,” and added, “We will make it an eco-friendly urban industrial complex where local residents can live with peace of mind.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.