MARKTL (dpa-AFX) - In the market town of Marktl in the Upper Bavarian district of Altotting, citizens are to decide in June on the construction of wind turbines on their municipal territory as part of the largest Bavarian wind farm. At its meeting on Tuesday evening, the municipal council passed a referendum, as mayor Benedikt Dittmann announced on Wednesday. The vote is to take place with the European elections on June 9. As things stand at present, three of 40 turbines are planned in the Altottinger Forest in the municipal area.

At the end of January, citizens in the neighboring municipality of Mehring rejected the construction of wind turbines in two referendums. Around ten wind turbines were to be built on Mehring territory alone.

Mehring's rejection of the Bavarian prestige project caused a considerable stir and a dispute over political responsibility. On Monday, Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) traveled to the region to campaign for the wind farm - as the citizens' initiative "Gegenwind Altotting" is also collecting signatures for petitions in other towns.

In Marktl, the local council rejected a citizens' petition because the question was too vague and instead launched the council petition. Representatives of the citizens' initiative were now granted the right to speak at the municipal council meeting and agreed to the wording of the question. This reads: "Are you in favor of the market town of Marktl granting its municipal consent to the construction project for the erection of wind turbines on parcel numbers 4, 11 and 12 of the Daxenthaler Forst district in the Marktl municipal area?"

In the meantime, things are boiling within the citizens' initiative. Just before Aiwanger's visit, three members resigned from their posts and left the group due to the increasing strength of AfD supporters in the initiative. "The whole project has now become far too big and important to leave the field to political currents far from the center," the resigned members announced. This was "no longer morally justifiable for us in any way", as "our values are incompatible with the approaches of the AfD".

With a total output of 288 megawatts, the planned 40 wind turbines could supply around 150,000 households with wind power. The wind farm will also supply additional energy to the Bavarian chemical triangle with thousands of jobs. It is said that around ten percent of the electricity required there could be produced with the wind./sd/DP/mis