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.
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