In 1991, the master plan was appealed by the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The appeal was seconded by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management. In the 1991 municipal election, the Socialist Left Party was the only party which was opposed to the fixed link, and they received a large increase in votes, increasing for 7 to 21 percent in Stord. The same year, Dag Hareide in the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature started lobbying up towards national politicians in an attempt to stop the issue in Parliament. High-profile people who were opposed to the project included Per Ståle Lønning, Herborg Kråkevik and Kenneth Sivertsen.