Bush to Create World's Largest Marine Protected Area Near Hawaii

President Bush today will create the world's largest marine protected area, a total of 140,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean surrounding a necklace of islands and atolls that stretch from the main Hawaiian Islands to Midway Atoll and beyond, senior administration officials said.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument will be larger than all of America's national parks combined. Fishing will be phased out, and the mining of coral for jewelry will be prohibited, along with other practices that can damage delicate reefs......

The decision is a turnaround for the administration, which five years ago considered stripping more limited protections from the area that President Clinton had declared a coral reef ecosystem reserve. It's also a sharp departure for an administration that has pushed to privatize some federal lands and has designated less wilderness than most presidents over the last 40 years.

A turning point came in April, when Bush sat through a 65-minute private White House screening of a PBS documentary that unveiled the beauty of — and perils facing — the archipelago's aquamarine waters and its nesting seabirds, sea turtles and sleepy-eyed monk seals, all threatened by extinction.

The film seemed to catch Bush's imagination, according to senior officials and others in attendance......

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hawaii15jun15,0,6373457.story?coll=la-home-nation

It can't be possible. I'm surprised he isn't allowing his oil buddies to build rigs right there in the middle of the protected area! This coming from the man who wants to drill for oil in sensitive areas of Alaska, allow factories to emit more pollutants into the air, and has generally been an enemy to Mother Nature his entire life?

Bush did say "doubt it" when asked if he was going to watch An Inconvenient Truth.

I must be dreaming. Must have more coffee and wake up - it can't be true. Does Bush not understand that it's a circle, and air pollution has an effect on life in the sea as well?

wilderness to the White House. Maybe they can keep him sober enough to view those and he'll 'turn around'.

There is no oil in the Hawaiian chain, unlike Alaska.

lift out of this as they can...

It's impossible to imagine that this prez, after *weakening* protections, would have agreed to tuck in for an evening of PBS viewing with the French unless the whole thing had been calculated before hand. But we get this back story about the transformation of Our Man of Action.

He doesn't draw breath unless there's a political upside.

* probably thought it had something to do with the USMC, and he'd be asked to do a photo op complete with Marine uniform.

I'll be impressed when repukes start conserving ecosystems you don't need a yacht to go see.

If Bush wants to save HAWAII let him stop the mass development of the NORTH SHORE on OAHU ... They call it TURTLE BAY because the turtles live there ... the spinner dolphins are there also ... Stop the development of Turtle Bay! ...

had to be at least 4 feet in diameter, it was about a foot away from me in the water

Johnson also followed up on comments made during last month's Kokua Festival, when he expressed displeasure with development plans at Turtle Bay Resort during a pre-concert press conference and while on stage at the Waikiki Shell.

"I think the main issue that everybody on that side of the island wants to see is just a little more energy put into the environmental impact statement," he said. "The EIS they're going off of is 20 years old.

"Anybody who's grown up out there or spent a lot of time out there knows how much the North Shore has changed ... I think it's a safety issue. I can't say that everybody shares the same opinion as me, (but) from the people I talk to, a lot of people feel the same way."

http://starbulletin.com/2006/05/18/features/story02.html

Pictured at the link below is the current resort at Turtle Bay (which is usually at about 40% capacity)and parts of the fragile coastline that surrounds it ... The locals tell me that there aren't enough tourists to fill these FIVE new hotels planned at North Shore AND there aren't enough employees for the labor requirements ... the entire project makes no sense at all ... the fragile coastline that surrounds it can't take this kind of development ... The children that go to school at Sunset Beach Elementary School along the narrow two lane road that leads to this resort would like to continue to live in peace, together, with the marine life ... as they have always done ...

http://turtlebayresort.com/Media_Center/Press_Releases_view.asp?pr_id=303

My auntie is speaking out boisterously against this horrific plan by developers to destroy the entire North Shore. Uggh - the last thing I would want the North Shore to look like is Newport Beach - all developed and shit for rich people.

They are doing the same thing on Maui to Makena - they are going to build this massive resort development in one of the most beautiful places on in Hawaii - for the people that could only afford it. And guess which elected officials on Maui are against it? Republicans! The Democrats say that it will create more contruction and union jobs, which is probably true, but it will also destroy the Maui that many locals grew up with. I'm sure on some level you can empathize with the words I am writing.

It is interesting to see the Democratic legislature speaking out and enacting legislation against the Kakaako project but they will not do the same for the North Shore or Makena. Makes me want to go Green party in Hawaii.

Let's keep counrty "COUNTRY"!!!!

Quetzal

being created will give the people at NORTH SHORE the voice they need to insist they take another look at the delicate ecosystems that exist there and the damage FIVE hotels and all the traffic and pollution that goes with them will cause ... The marine life deserve to be left in peace ... as does all of North Shore ...

but this at least, on the face of it, is a good thing. Now if only he would do more of the same...Clinton created 19 National Monuments - this is Bush's second. The first was a portion of the African-American burial ground in NYC - amounts to something like an acre of land.

After, of course, the Great Barrier Reef.

Between rising sea levels, higher water temperatures and accompanying diseases that are already devastating reefs worldwide and the unpleasant fact that the acidity of the Pacific has increased 25% in about ten years, I would say that the ecotourism factor is likely to be short-lived.

But I'll give them at least a point for trying, though I'll wait and see how they handle the "phase out fishing in five years" plan.

ca's natural heritage instead of GIVING our national lands to the oil, mining, logging and tourism corporations?

I'm glad he did ONE GOOD THING for the environment but no doubt he's got some ulterior motive---he plans to move to Hawaii for his retirement, his good oil bud friends live there or something like that. These repukes are total nimbys from what I've seen on every level---local, national and international. They only get involved in preservation efforts when land or water is threatened in their backyards.

,.

But the fragile marine habit does NOT know who the PRESIDENT is ... this habitat is well worth saving no matter WHO is in office in DC ... recently I swam with the sea turtles in Hawaii ... what magnificent creatures they are ...

The Administration must be very sure that there are no resources of oil or natural gas in this area. Otherwise, it wouldn't be protected.

If there were known underwater deposits, then it would be up for grabs, or any other useful raw material. Until the lobbyists are told something is there, it will be safe for the present.

This is so out of character for him.

-which is what he uses instead of character.

Phony moderation (if there are any so stupid and gullible to still believe Chimperor is a "moderate") around "election" time for the rubes to make it close enough to steal.

(which by this time I judge to be almost 10%...soon it will simply be irrelevant)

However, what else can I say but, for whatever reason, I am happy he's done this (unless it turns out there IS some evil intent behind this, in which case I retract my statement).

Who would have guessed motivations would come to mean so very little under Totalitarian rule? Not me.

place to put an oil rig. Sorry, don't believe a word out of his filthy mouth.

Coral reefs are dying because of global warming. what is he* preserving?????

If he* wanted to really do some of that "hard work" he's* always crowing about, try cutting C02 emissions. That would really save the coral reefs.

there is nothing at all warm and fuzzy about moron* except for what's in his* underwear.

to piss in and pollute the rest of the world's oceans. "See I love the fish. I'm an environmental war pretzeldint."

Marina Boat Captains for the Truth. :evilgrin:

...by bring them home, for example?

Too Little..

The Planet needs fixing...

This one act is not gonna cut it.

His solutions are all band aid....

Or, Nefarious disquised as Good for You...drink it all....

you guys,this is just a PR stunt. This has been lobbied for since before 2000, and Bill Clinton created a huge coral reef ecosystem reserve in the same area, falling short of of making this a Marine Sanctuary due to the opposition by the LOCAL fishermen.

BUT GET THIS: Bush is planning to build a huge MONUMENT on one of the uninhabitated Isalnds.

I just blogged this, but you gotta read this:

http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1171231.php/Global_warming_might_affect_Hawaii_area


How ironic.

pretends to be.

It's going to buy him some nice press, but think about it for a second. This piece of breathtaking ecological magnanimity has has virtually NO associated costs, either economic or political. What has he done for ecological protection on the continental USA where it might actually matter, and might actually inconvenience one of his corporate donors? Hey George, I'll see your Hawaii and raise you an ANWR. But hey, for the Bush legacy no sacrifice is too small, no cost is too miniscule to be borne.

It's bullshit grandstanding.

Ds declare a region a reserve, while Rs stick a huge monument on the site and then thump their chests like they care about the place and how proud everyone should be of them.

:eyes: