Bush Eyes Unprecedented Conservation Program

[ckramer]

Source: npr

The Bush administration is considering launching one of the biggest conservation programs in U.S. history.

If implemented, President George W. Bush could, with the stroke of a pen, protect vast stretches of U.S. territorial waters from fishing, oil exploration and other forms of commercial development. The initiative could also create some of the largest marine reserves in the world — far larger than national parks like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon.

A 'Blue Legacy' for President Bush

An array of ocean advocates — both Democrats and Republicans — are urging the White House to forge ahead with the proposals, saying it would enable President Bush to build a "blue legacy" that would make him a major figure in conservation history.

"These would all be terrific additions to what is already President Bush's greatest environmental legacy," the Hawaiian monument, says James Greenwood, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, who now heads the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Greenwood, who has close ties to the White House, says that he has been lobbying Bush for years to take major action on ocean conservation.

Bush could become the "Teddy Roosevelt of the seas," conservationists say. President Theodore Roosevelt protected about 230 million acres in new parks and forests, notes Elliott Norse of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute in Washington. Bush has the chance "to protect more," he says.

Typically, creating marine reserves requires the approval of Congress and an extensive public comment process. By using the Antiquities Act, the White House can sidestep those requirements. President Bill Clinton, for instance, used the law to unilaterally protect a huge chunk of Utah, angering many state and local politicians. But a CEQ spokesman said that if the current initiative moves forward, it will very likely include some kind of public comment process.


Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90766237

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. "Blue Legacy". As in bad porn? Or just that he will leave us feeling blue for years to come?

Give me a break....Bush and Conservation? Can't even say those words in the same sentence without losing my mind!

[spag68]

5. bush and conservative

Almost certainly a oxymoron

[santamargarita]

13. Shit isn't blue...breathing air you can see is sometimes blue

What a crock

[SpiralHawk]

2. Commander AWOL trying to put a band aid on the VAST destruction

he and his republicon cronies have brought upon America.

Pathetic attempt of a ego freak to retain some shred of dignitude to his shameful reputation.

Ptooey.

[ebayfool]

17. You know there's gotta be a catch in there somewhere ...

He doesn't do ANYTHING that doesn't have some kind of benefit to himself or his own! Legacy? Naw ... he doesn't care what people think of him. Something is buried in his plan, some nugget that will be a benny for him.

[magellan]

22. That was my first thought too

What's hidden in this plan that benefits Bush** or his cronies? The idiot-in-thief is incapable of an act that he doesn't somehow profit from.

[Supersedeas]

30. any distraction will do for the Corp Media Establishment

[onehandle]

3. And the "save the legacy tour" continues. Forget it, smirk. You're a petty little crook. nt

[ryanmuegge]

7. The media will talk about him like they do Reagan. He will be considered greater than Reagan.

In about 15 years. Mark my words.

Bush has been an astounding success for the true base of his party; a much greater success than Reagan.

[TheMadMonk]

4. And what would the caveats be?

Who gets to "harvest under license"?

What does it say in the fine print?

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

6. oh my eye- that headline should be Bush Eyes Unprecedented

ass kicking by Dems in Nov, now doing damage control....

[mdmc]

8. that would be nice

[lovuian]

9. Well he is a bit too late He will have the reputation of

killing the Oceans not saving them...

[Grinchie]

10. They need more parking spots for the Attack subs - read the fine print.

Plus, it's a great way to seal off these areas from prying eyes.

What? I need a permit from the federal government to visit the Northwest Hawaiian Islands National Monument?
What? I need to have a special IFF Transponder on my boat when I enter the NWHINM waters?

It's a fricking smokescreen people, all thanks to the Unitarian President, who gives a damn about nothing.

People need to read this "Sweeping" legislation that came out of nowhere, and find the inevitable loophole put in place for the Military.

Antiquities Act -- Bypass public scrutiny.

[trusty elf]

11. Oh shit.

Does this mean he's planning vast underwater toxic waste dump sites?

[Frank Cannon]

12. It figures that this would come from NPR

The last time I ever listened to that network, they produced what seem to be a one-hour, breathless report on how His Monkey Majesty was FINALLY bringing peace to Israel and Palestine!

NPR is filling the void for surreal, bad comedy left by the cancellation of TV's "Small Wonder".

[MilesColtrane]

14. This just in: Bush Declares State of Florida a Maritime Sanctuary

The President was quoted as saying, "Thanks to this administration's policies vast new protected areas of ocean are being created. Conservatin's hard work...henh henh henh."

[hatrack]

15. Despite Record Pace Of Ocean Acidification, Bush Grasps At Greenwash Brush

Seawater with the potentially shell-disrupting chemistry predicted for the open ocean after 2050 has already surfaced along North America’s West Coast, scientists report.

In spring 2007, the corrosive, deep water rose temporarily to the Pacific surface some 40 kilometers roughly west of the California-Oregon border, says Richard Feely of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. Elsewhere on the continental shelf, corrosive water rolled up but didn’t surge all the way to the surface, Feely and his colleagues report in an upcoming Science.

Deeper water normally swells upward at this time of year. But so much carbon dioxide — from natural and human-related processes — had dissolved in the water that the upwelling had a pH around 7.7. Surface water in the region typically has a pH of between 8.0 and 8.3 (a pH below 7 is acidic).

Gloomy estimates hadn’t predicted such a pH drop at the ocean surface until the second half of the century, Feely says. “This means that ocean acidification may be seriously impacting marine life on our continental shelf right now,” he says.

EDIT

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/32458/title/Ocean_reflux

[ryanmuegge]

16. Interesting that the party that believes in the feasibility (and necessity) of unlimited growth

is "launching" a conservation initiative. The hypocrisy here is unreal.

If we really believed in conservation, we would actually conserve. If we really believed in conservation, we would refuse to do any business with India and China until those vile countries get their inexcusable populations under control over several decades.

[UTUSN]

18. HaHAH!1 That would put the final nail in his 29%ers' coffins!1 n/t

[Honeycombe8]

19. I don't trust him. I'm guessing that there IS no oil in those waters....those waters

are far enuf removed from U.S. business interests as the conservation program not to cause a problem for Republican contributors, and Hawaii must be pushing for it.

We've all learned not to trust him. Still, he IS concerned about his legacy. As if 8 years of horrific policies and deaths could be wiped away at the end with a water conservation program. Besides...we've all seen how respectful the Republicans are about drilling in "protected" areas, haven't we? They've latched on to trying to open up ANWR to drilling, and have not let go for eight years.

What about conserving some land? What about not logging the trees from the national forests? What about not drilling in ANWR?

[MasonJar]

20. I hope he does it for the earth's sake, but he is not going to become

a conservationist's hero! The list of ill treatment of the world and its earth are too substantial and too obvious. But I'll cheer him on...do it, W.

[alfredo]

21. Don't worry, his legacy is secure.

[Vogon_Glory]

23. A Good Idea--Even If Boy George Is For It

This is a good idea, and is at least twenty years overdue. I have come to believe that there is a desperate need for BIG marine sanctuaries, no matter who proposes this idea, whether it might be Ann Coulter, Kim Jong Il, Richard Scaife, the Taliban leadership, or even George W. Bush. The worlds' fishing fleets have decimated the worlds' fishing grounds, ruining the commercial viability of many once-productive waters, and creating huge empty spaces once teeming with fish. The ONLY solution is to make many sections of the ocean out of bounds to trawlers, drift-netters, and other destructive forms of commercial fishing and to make some or most of these areas no-take zones so the few scattered survivors of targeted species and the hapless by-catch caught in trawls, gill-nets, and long-lines, can begin to rebuild their numbers.

Like many DU'ers, I have long been skeptical of what Gee Dubya said was Divine influence in his decision making since he took over in January, 2001. But sometimes miracles can happen, and people can actually notice them. Maybe G*d Almighty was yelling extra loud and extra hard and George HW's and Barbara's Mater's eldest boy sat up and took notice.

[ckramer]

28. Kind of agreeing with your point

Even evil man sometimes has surprises.

[samsingh]

24. the imbeciles immediate resignation would be a good start

voluntary entry into a prision - if he truly cared about America, would be a good second step.

[Vogon_Glory]

29. Hate to ruin your day, BUT Cheney would then become President.

I'd hate to ruin your day, but if Gee Dubya were to resign, Dead-Eye Dick Cheney would then become President.

[WillyToad]

25. This is a freaking joke

Hold it up in congress and let it die. Everything Bush touches is a giveaway to corporations

[shanti]

26. sorry, i'm not buying it

whatever * says he will do is usually the opposite. time too dig deeper into this "program" and find out the catch.

[and-justice-for-all]

27. This would not make up for the past 8 years...nt

[lutefisk]

31. Please stop posting Onion articles in LBN

The "Teddy Roosevelt of the seas"?


:rofl: :spray: :puke: