Measures to Enhance Community Acceptance of a Woody Biomass Power plant

Case of Monbetsu City, Hokkaido

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the factors to enhance the community acceptance by the proponent in case of the woody biomass power plant in Monbetsu City, Hokkaido. It was clarified that the operator conducted public consultations, voluntary environmental impact assessment in addition to mitigation measures. Most residents are satisfied with the measures except for the landscape issue, while most of them emphasize to set back the appropriate distance from the plant, ensuring procedural justice and information disclosure. The result of Spearman’s rank shows that the satisfaction level with landscape and water quality have strong correlation with the community acceptance.