Pig Farmer Hits the Jackpot
In an interesting piece of news the Korean government has awarded a pig farmer $38,000 for damages to his pigs from noise pollution from the new KTX bullet train.Lee filed a complaint claiming noise from the bullet train led to miscarriages and stillbirths among his stock.
Lee, who raises hogs at a farm located some 65 meters from the high-speed train’s track in Maesong-myon, Kyonggi Province, demanded the rail authority pay 860 million won in compensation.
He claimed problems among his 110 pigs started shortly after trial operation of the bullet train was launched in July 2003.
The committee said in its ruling, “Although the average noise level dropped from 68.5 decibels to 62.3 decibels after the railway construction firm set up soundproof walls between Lee’s farm and the railroad in September 2002, the highest level was recorded at 75.1-76.5 decibels in October 2004.”
“Experts say hogs raised in a quiet location could have suffered stress from sudden noise, and such loud noise can be more than 20 percent responsible for problems that include miscarriages and stillbirth. Thus we acknowledge the link between the noise and the damage,” the commission said.
I hope no other pig farmers read this because it will probably give them ideas. Tanks and bradleys are extremely loud, especially in a convoy driving down the road. In 2ID land there are a number of pig farms we drive by that I can think of off the top of my head. I can’t imagine the bullet train is that much louder than a tank. So hopefully they don’t get any ideas because that is all we need up here is pig farmers protesting.
