Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) yesterday voiced regret over the Cabinet’s dismissal of the city’s proposal to hold a local referendum on state-run Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) plan to build Taiwan’s fourth liquefied natural gas terminal in the Waimushan (外木山) area.
Local governments should be given the authority to pursue their own environmental protection projects and fisheries affairs, and people should be given the right to vote in local referendums on such issues, he said.
Hsieh, of the of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), made the remark a day after the Protect Waimushan Action Group urged the Keelung City Government to appeal to the Judicial Yuan and the Legislative Yuan to contest the Cabinet’s dismissal.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Power Co
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said that a referendum on such a project cannot be held on the local level, as it would fall under the central government’s purview.
However, the group vowed that it would continue to pursue its goal.
Keelung City Council Speaker Tung Tzu-wei (童子瑋) of the Democratic Progressive Party spoke out against a local referendum, saying it would turn the debate into a partisan affair.
The focus would not be on the original issue, Tung said.
Instead of seeking confrontation, all sides should engage in a dialogue on the future use of the oil-fired Hsieh-ho Power Plant, he said.
Turning it into a gas-powered facility, as planned by the operator, would help improve the air quality in the city, Tung added.
Keelung residents and the city government have the right to speak out against the project, but organizing a local referendum would not be the right way to do so, as the Constitution does not cover such votes, he said.
The Cabinet cited the Local Autonomy Act (地方自治法) when it dismissed Hsieh’s plan, Tung said, urging the city government to abide by the decision.
Taipower is planning to convert the 46-year-old Hsieh-ho Power Plant into a gas-powered facility after its operating license runs out and build a terminal to unload fuel for the plant nearby.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS