The Executive Yuan’s rejection of Yilan County’s application for a referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), has deprived the county’s residents of their rights, and the Council of Grand Justices should look into the legitimacy of the decision, the Environmental Protection League said.
The league tendered a 3,525-signature petition calling on the Yilan County Government to consider holding a local referendum on the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant on May 8.
The county government approved the petition and forwarded the petition to the Executive Yuan for review on May 17.
The Executive Yuan later denied the petition on the grounds that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was an issue of national energy policy that affected important national policies, including general electricity coverage to the nation, industrial chains and environmental concerns, and as such, was not within the jurisdiction of locally held referendums.
On Friday, Environmental Protection League chairman Chen Yao-hsing (陳曜顯), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) and DPP County Councilor Huang Shih-chao (黃適超) criticized the Executive Yuan’s decision.
Chen said the Executive Yuan was depriving the county’s residents of their rights by making a unilateral decision on the matter, and he suspected that it violated administrative ethics because it had not consulted the Referendum Review Committee on the issue.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) filed administrative litigation against the Executive Yuan, the league’s former chairman Chang Chieh-lung (張捷隆) said yesterday, adding that such legal processes would take a long time.
The county government should apply to the Council of Grand Justices for a constitutional interpretation on the issue, Chang said.
Chang added that the nuclear power plant affects environmental protection and public security — both of which were well within the jurisdiction of local authorities — and should therefore be open to referendum by local residents.
County Commissioner Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) of the DPP said that he regretted the Executive Yuan’s decision, adding that the county government would apply for a constitutional interpretation next month.
As for the league’s suggestion that the county government hold its own referendum, Lin said the county already held one several years ago.
More than 60 percent of county residents were against the construction, but the referendum had no legal backing and was not binding, Lin said.
Only through a constitutional interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices to clarify the powers of local government can the county government know what it can or cannot do, Lin said.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
RSS