Friday, June 16, 2006
George W. Bush: conservationist
You don't read stuff like this in the New York Times very often:
An unfamiliar but highly appealing side of President Bush showed itself at the White House yesterday. It was Mr. Bush the compassionate conservationist, friend of green sea turtles, seabirds and Hawaiian monk seals, savior of coral reefs and spiny lobsters, creator of the largest ocean sanctuary on the planet.
Mr. Bush has made the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument, putting them under some of the strictest environmental protections the law provides. It was an act of wilderness preservation that, acre for acre, instantly put him into the same league as the conservation-minded presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
Here's some of the background on the area, obviously clipped into the Times editorial:
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve is the single largest conservation area under the U.S. flag. It encompasses roughly 135,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean - an area larger than all the country's national parks combined.
The extensive coral reefs found in the NWHI - truly the rainforests of the sea - are home to over 7,000 marine species, one quarter of which are found only in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Many of the islands and shallow water environments are important habitats for rare species such as the threatened green sea turtle and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal.
The WaPo:
What's impressive is not just the designation itself but the fine print of President Bush's order. Despite tenacious pressure from regional fisheries managers, Mr. Bush decided not to permit any commercial fishing in the area. The small amount that goes on now will be phased out; a coalition of private donors will buy out the fishing permits of the eight fishermen who currently work those waters. What's more, in a happy surprise, Mr. Bush used his power under the National Antiquities Act to designate national monuments, not the more cumbersome federal marine sanctuaries law. As a result the plan goes into effect immediately, bypassing months of additional bureaucratic wrangling.
Good job. It will be interesting to see whether this gets any reaction from the lefty blogs.
4 Comments:
By 
Catchy Pseudonym, at
Fri Jun 16, 09:28:00 AM:
Maybe we can all go live there when the it's 120 degrees year round.
Kidding aside, I think this was a great thing to do.
I do wonder if this was done for his presidential legacy, since so many of his other environmental decisions seem to go in the opposite direction.
By Gordon Smith, at
Fri Jun 16, 10:02:00 AM:
This is good for the area and for the ocean. I wonder what principle underlies Bush's choice. Is he for protecting pristine areas or just this pristine area? Is protecting the albatross metaphorical?
Thanks George W. Bush for finishing the job Bill Clinton started and protecting this amazing place.
By 
, at
Fri Jun 16, 03:00:00 PM:
Bush deserves lots of credit. Sadly, liberals and lefties are already saying otherwise, that it wasn't his idea, Dems started it, etc. The left just doesn't get it - they'll get nothing from the GOP when they complain, even when the Prez does what they want!
By Catchy Pseudonym, at
Fri Jun 16, 04:17:00 PM:
Bush did a great thing environmentally. I appreciate what he did as I'm sure most environmentalists do. But is this suppose to erase all the bad decisions on the environment that he's made? I know that's what they're hoping.
Meanwhile he's curtailing air quality rules, weaking the EPA, trying to auction off National Forest land to "pay for schools", trying to drill in Alaska protected wilderness, ignoring global warming, helping corporations weaken current environment regulations... so excuse us for not bowing at his most gracious feet.
When he's start making a habit of protecting the environment, I'll start giving him the praise he deserves. This one time however, yes, he made me happy. Now lets see some less-grandiose but much more impacting environmental decisions.
