Environmentalists, academics and environmental officials yesterday urged opposition parties to support the Cabinet's decision to scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant
"The Legislative Yuan should let the Executive Yuan report on its plan to cancel the plant as soon as possible. After that, legislators from opposition parties should give up their biased stance," Taiwan Environmental Protection Union chairman Shih Shin-min (施信民) told the Taipei Times yesterday.
"If the Legislative Yuan establishes a specific law as the legal basis for building the nuclear plant based only on political motives, it would be totally against the popular will," Shih said.
Anti-nuclear residents of Kungliao Township (
"Opposition parties should accept their failure in the last presidential election and give up political revenge," a resident said.
Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑), the secretary-general of the Green Citizens Action Alliance (綠色公民行動聯盟), told the Taipei Times yesterday that the grand justices had said too much in their explanation of the Constitution.
"They should not have given the Legislative Yuan hints to establish a specific law as the legal basis for building the nuclear power plant. They went too far," Lai said.
"Did the grand justices ever consider the spirit of the Constitution? Did they guarantee Kungliao residents' their property rights?" Lai said.
According to Article 15 of the Constitution, the right of livelihood, the right of work and the right of property shall be guaranteed to the people.
Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials reiterated yesterday that the negative impact nuclear power plants have on the environment should have been taken into serious consideration.
"When the focus of nuclear energy issues shifts to politics instead of the environment, it's very bad for the country's future development," EPA administrator Lin Jun-yi (
Lin said that it would be unfair to future generations if the nuclear plant became the by-product of a political struggle between ambitious politicians.
Wang To-far
"Take the New Party as an example. Their representatives were against the plant during committee meetings when we discussed the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant last year. Now they stand on the other side just to oppose President Chen Shui-bian [
Wang said that it was unbelievable that political figures never considered the power plant issue from the angles of energy consumption and greater efficiency.
Chiau Wen-yan (
Chiau and other environmental experts carried out investigations in coastal areas near the plant's construction site last year and found that some marine creatures are in danger. They requested the EPA halt the construction of the plant because marine life had been threatened. The bleaching of corals, covered by construction gravel, has been discovered.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work