NUCLEAR POWER:The DPP is hoping that 14 KMT lawmakers representing Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung would side with the DPP on halting the plant’s building
By Chris Wang and Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporters
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday appealed to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers ahead of today’s scheduled vote on proposals about the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, asking them to break party ranks and support the suspension of the controversial plant.
DPP and KMT lawmakers are expected to launch motions today to have their proposals — the DPP’s wants construction of plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) suspended immediately, while the KMT wants a national referendum on the issue — discussed in the legislature’s plenary session.
Both initiatives are expected to be put to a vote today.
If the KMT proposal passes, a national referendum will be held asking: “Do you agree that construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be halted and that it not become operational (你是否同意核四廠停止興建不得運轉)?”
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said yesterday that the party hoped the 14 KMT lawmakers representing Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung, who have yet to announce their position on the issue, would side with the DPP on calling for an immediate halt to construction.
The 14 are Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), Alex Tsai (蔡正元), Chiang Nai-shin (蔣乃辛), Alex Fai (費鴻泰), Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), Huang Chih-hsiung (黃志雄), Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), Chiang Hui-chen (江惠貞), Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞), Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池), Lin Te-fu (林德福) and Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑).
Anti-nuclear civic groups plan to stage a protest today to “besiege” the legislature to pressure those lawmakers in favor of the plant.
“People are watching,” Lin Chun-hsien said, calling for KMT lawmakers to side with mainstream public opinion.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Thomas Lee (李桐豪) appealed to the KMT not to ram the referendum proposal by using the “tyranny of majority.”
Thomas Lee reiterated his party’s position that lawmakers should wait for the assessment on the plant’s safety to be completed before deciding whether it should be allowed to begin commercial operations.
A plebiscite on the issue should not be held before safe operation of the plant is guaranteed and the legislature does its share, he said.
However, KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said his party would severely discipline party members who vote against the party line.
KMT lawmakers voting for the DPP’s proposal or against the KMT’s proposal would be viewed as a grave infraction, Lai said.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) criticized Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), the operator of the nation’s nuclear power plants, for providing inconsistent lists of its 45-member safety review panel and its refusal to provide a list of the 12 consultants from US-based General Electricity Co.
Taipower’s actions showed it had no intention of meeting the public’s demand that information about the nuclear power plants be transparent, he said.