The Cabinet's decision to continue the construction of a wharf being built for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant led to a protest yesterday by antinuclear activists and people living near the plant site.
The protesters also presented a petition to the Control Yuan.
Control Yuan members Leu Hsi-muh (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The petition urges the Control Yuan to investigate Cabinet agencies and other government departments -- including the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), Atomic Energy Council and Taiwan Power Company (Tai-power) -- for ignoring their duties.
Township residents told Control Yuan members yesterday that the construction of the wharf had caused not only the loss of 3km of Fulung Beach but it was having a a negative impact on the ecological systems of nearby coastal areas.
Residents complained that the EPA was avoiding tackling environmental problems caused by what they described as an unsound Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the plant done by the Atomic Energy Council in 1991, long before the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法) came into effect in 1994.
"What a benefit to being governmental officials. None of them has to take responsibility for mistakes they have made," said Wu Wen-tung (
Before sending the petition letter to the Control Yuan, protestors demonstrated in front of the Executive Yuan, expressing their disappointment at the recent investigation conducted by a task force established in January under the command of Premier Yu Shyi-kun.
Protestors said that the investigation was a perfunctory probe by the Cabinet.
The task force, composed of experts and officials from Cabinet-level agencies, concluded early this month that the beach erosion could be attributed to stress on the environment caused by construction of the wharf, which was built to facilitate construction of the plant.
However, ministers without portfolio Lin Sheng-feng (
Instead they asked Taipower to be responsible for the damage.
DPP legislators Eugene Jao (
"We will soon demand the investigation report conducted by the Executive Yuan on the issue and carry out field trips to the beach," Control Yuan member Leu said.
A dozen Kunaliao residents were allowed to enter the Executive Yuan yesterday to discuss the issue with officials.
However, the delegation was disappointed by the absence of high-ranking officials.
"We can't accept the insincere way the Cabinet treats us," Wu said.
Premier Yu met with same protestors in mid-January, stressing the Cabinet's investigation would come up with a way to solve problems related to coastal erosion.
Tu Yueh-yuan (
"We now can only do things by following the Cabinet's opinions," Tu said.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
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