For a long time it was quiet about the “Bürgerwind Pfaffenwinkel” project for a wind farm near Peiting.
Suddenly the topic is topical again - in the environment committee of the district council it was now discussed whether one should perhaps even sacrifice the world cultural heritage status of the Wieskirche.
District
- It's been eight years since a group of 62 private individuals - including many farmers - came together under the name “Bürgerwind Pfaffenwinkel” to build wind turbines on the mountain meadows and Köpfinger meadows near Peiting.
The mayors of the surrounding communities supported the showcase project at the time, but as is well known, optimism quickly got dampened.
Protection of birds and species caused problems, but monument protection turned out to be the biggest hurdle.
Unesco saw the construction of three wind turbines on the Köpfinger Meadows endangered the Wieskirche's World Heritage title.
That was in 2015, since then it has become quiet about Bürgerwind Pfaffenwinkel GmbH, which put its plans on hold at the time.
Another push for the Bürgerwind project
What nobody suspected: In the meantime, the plans have apparently been thawed again.
As District Councilor Josef Taffertshofer (BfL / Wildsteig) reported in the district council's environmental committee, there was another attempt by the Bavarian Minister of Economics, Hubert Aiwanger, to push the project through.
But Aiwanger also bit on granite at Unesco.
"As soon as even a piece of the wing can be seen from the Wieskirche, the status of the world cultural heritage falls away, according to UNESCO," reported District Administrator Andrea Jochner-Weiß.
Their conclusion: "That is the end of the issue." But the members of the Environment Committee did not want to give in so quickly.
“The planned wind turbines are to be built eleven kilometers away.
Eleven kilometers! ”, Taffertshofer said angrily.
They would have to be 110 meters high "so that you can even see anything from the Wieskirche".
The district's goals could only be achieved with wind power
The declared goal of the district, to generate all the required energy regeneratively in 2035, can only be implemented if wind power is used in addition to photovoltaics, he argued.
And there you have numerous investors and communities who want to work together on such an exemplary project - and then it is prevented.
Romana Asam (Free Voters / Weilheim) went even further: “What would actually happen if the Wieskirche lost its World Heritage status?” She wanted to know.
She didn't get an answer to that.
Stefan Emeis (Grüne / Weilheim) didn't want a confrontation, but rather persuasion: “We advertise in numerous photos with the radome, with a charming, historic little church in the background.
There is the argument that history and modernity complement each other perfectly, ”he said.
This is exactly how one could argue at Unesco in the matter of Wieskirche.
“Maybe we'll send a photo montage so that they can get an idea,” suggested Emeis.
District council takes Catholic Church to duty
District Councilor Hans Mummert (SPD / Penzberg) also sees the Catholic Church as having an obligation: "They should be much more involved in matters of wind power and the Wieskirche," he demanded.
After all, the fight against climate change, in which the use of wind power is a decisive factor, is “about the preservation of God's creation”.
District Councilor Max Bertl (CSU), who is also Mayor of Steingaden, was mysterious in the debate: “I have something up my sleeve to convince Unesco,” he oracle without saying what exactly that was.
But for this you would have to bring a delegation from Unesco to the region, "so that they can get an idea on site."
In the end, however, the debate in the Environment Committee on this topic was open-ended.
Also interesting:
On the morning of her 25th birthday, boxes as far as the eye can see lined Barbara Bißle's garden in Burggen.
Friends had taken the liberty of joking.
But not without ulterior motives.
