Bush Eyes Unprecedented Conservation Program
Interactive Map: Possible National Marine Monuments (Alice Kreit/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.
The White House is thinking about taking "big steps, not small ones," says Jack Sobel, a senior scientist at the Washington-based Ocean Conservancy, an environmental group.
(Alice Kreit/NPR)
A spokesman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality confirmed that the administration is considering the initiative but declined to discuss details, saying they are still under review.
The idea is drawing strong support from conservationists who typically have been harshly critical of the Bush administration's overall environmental record. But some of the possible reserves are already attracting opposition from local leaders and industry groups and from some members of Congress.
National Monuments in the Sea
Conservationists say that CEQ officials last year invited a small number of ocean advocates to an unusual, closed-door meeting to discuss the idea. The White House asked them to help identify potential reserves in waters within the United States' "exclusive economic zone," which extends 200 nautical miles out from the mainland and U.S.-owned islands around the world.
The idea, says Sobel, was to highlight areas where President Bush could create "marine monuments" under the Antiquities Act of 1906. This law gives the president broad powers to protect areas of "historic or scientific interest" without congressional approval.
Administration officials said they wanted things they could do before they left office, says Sobel. "They [also] wanted things that they could do without tremendous political blow back ... [but] would have a conservation impact."
The groups took the invitation seriously, in part because Bush, in 2006, used the Antiquities Act to create one of the world's largest marine reserves, around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
The groups — along with government agencies and other interested parties – ultimately developed a "wish list" that included about 30 potential marine monuments. They ranged from small reserves in U.S. coastal waters to vast swaths around U.S. territories in the distant Central Pacific. The candidates stretched "from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Dutch Harbor, Alaska" and beyond, says Jay Nelson of the Washington-based Pew Environment Group.
On the Short List
The White House has now shortened that list to about five finalists, say scientists involved in the process. The list hasn't been released to the public, and a CEQ spokesman says changes are still possible. But conservation groups have identified some of the leading nominees.
By far the most ambitious proposal is to protect more than 600,000 square miles around a number of small, mostly uninhabited islands in the Central Pacific. The islands — including Palmyra, Howland and Baker — are surrounded by biologically rich coral reefs and are home to huge seabird colonies. If implemented, the reserve would be among the largest in the world and about three times as large as the Hawaiian monument.
Another proposal calls for protecting more than 100,000 square miles of notoriously rough waters around the Northern Mariana Islands, in the Western Pacific. The area includes the 36,000-foot-deep Marianas Trench.
"It's the deepest point in the world," says Nelson. "If you dropped Mt. Everest in it, there would be a mile of water above the mountain."
Another proposal is to place a 500-square-mile reserve around Rose Atoll in the South Pacific east of Australia.
Nelson says it's important to protect these areas before fishing or energy companies begin to exploit them. The same argument is being made in favor of two other potential monuments closer to the U.S. mainland. One would protect a massive network of deep-water corals off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. The other would protect coral reefs and ridges found mostly in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Once somebody's fishing there it will be a difficult and contentious fight," says Mike Hirschfeld of the nonprofit group Oceana. "It's simpler to set these areas aside when there isn't a problem rather than wait for one to develop."
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.
Local Hurdles
There is already opposition to several of the potential reserves. This month, Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana said he didn't like the plan to protect corals in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that the economic consequences are "potentially grave," particularly for the fishing industry. Members of Congress from states along the Gulf also floated, and then withdrew, legislative language that would have prevented the government from spending money to establish the monument.
Out in the Pacific, local politicians and commercial interests also are voicing opposition to a Marianas Trench monument.
"We don't even have a voting member in Congress, and we've got the president of the U.S., who basically could slam the door on any future potential that is there," says John Gourley, an environmental consultant on the island of Saipan, who has worked for the fishing industry. "[We] should be able to use these resources in an environmentally sensitive manner."
A decision on the initiative could come within a month.
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MICHELE NORRIS, host.
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
NOAH ADAMS, host.
And, I'm Noah Adams.
NPR has learned that President Bush is weighing the creation of what could become the biggest collection of ocean reserves on the planet. If the idea moves ahead, environmentalists say it would be one of the most significant actions of conservation in U.S. history. And they say it could give President Bush what you might call a historic blue legacy.
NPR's John Nielsen has this exclusive report.
JOHN NIELSEN: Last summer environmental activists were invited to an unusual closed door meeting at the White House. The meeting was organized by the Bush administration's Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ. Some who attended were extremely harsh critics of the president's overall environmental record. But that was not the topic on the table. Instead, officials from the CEQ announced that they were putting together a list of potential new marine reserves. Then they invited the environmentalists to help them out. Jack Sobel of the non-profit Ocean Conservancy was there. He says the offer came with a few restrictions.
JACK SOBEL(Ocean Conservancy): They wanted things that they could do before they left office. They wanted things that they could do politically without a tremendous blowback. But the third thing that we were told was they wanted things that were significant from a conservation perspective. They wanted to make big steps, not small ones.
NIELSEN: The environmentalists took this offer seriously because President Bush had already created one of the largest marine reserves on Earth. In 2006, he invoked a little known law called the Antiquities Act of 1906 and turned the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands into a gigantic national monument. At a signing ceremony in the Rose Garden, President Bush noted that the monument covers 140,000 square miles.
President GEORGE W. BUSH: To put this area in context, this national monument is more than a hundred times larger than Yosemite National Park, larger than 46 of our 50 states, and more that seven times larger than all our national marine sanctuaries combined. This is a big deal.
NIELSEN: And now the White House is considering an even bigger deal. A spokesman for the Council on Environmental Quality told NPR that the White House is looking at the idea of creating new reserves in American territorial waters but declined to talk about the details. But scientists involved in the process say an early list of roughly 30 potential monuments has now been shortened to a semi-final group of five areas that the president could protect by using the Antiquities Act. The smallest of these potential new monuments would protect a tiny coral atoll near the end of the Samoan island chain in the Pacific. The biggest, also in the Pacific, would cover roughly 600,000 square miles. That's about four times bigger than the Hawaiian monument.
Mr. JIM GREENWOOD: (Biotechnology Industry Association) And we think these would all be terrific additions to what is already probably President Bush's greatest environmental legacy.
NIELSEN: Jim Greenwood is a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who has close ties to the White House. He is now the president and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Association, but he's also an influential figure in the world of marine conservation. Greenwood says he's been urging the president to protect big parts of the ocean for years.
Mr. GREENWOOD: When I was in Congress, every time I got alone with the president on Air Force One or in the limo at some event, I would talk and talk and talk to him about the oceans and about what he could do in terms of significant presidential acts.
NIELSEN: Soon that lobbying may pay off in a big way. For example, one of the proposals on the short list would protect a huge chunk of ocean near the Pacific island of Guam. Jay Nelson of the nonprofit Pew Environment Group says the area is famous for its sharks, its stormy waters, and the Marianna Trench.
Mr. JAY NELSON: (Pew Environment Group) Which is the deepest point in the world. It's actually about 36,000-feet deep and it's deep enough that if you dropped Mt. Everest into it, there would be a mile of water above Mt. Everest.
NIELSEN: Nelson says it's important to protect this area before commercial fishing boats find a way to exploit it. That same argument is being made in favor of two other potential marine monuments. One would protect a massive network of deep water corals found off the coast of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. The other would protect coral reefs and ridges found mostly in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mike Hirschfeld of the non-profit group Oceana says the time to act is now.
Mr. MIKE HIRSCHFELD (Oceana): Because once somebody's fishing there, it will be a difficult, contentious fight, and it's simpler to just set these areas aside when there isn't a problem rather than wait for one to develop.
NIELSEN: Rumors that these plans are being laid have already triggered some opposition, however. Recently, members of Congress from states near the Gulf of Mexico floated and then withdrew legislative language that would have blocked new marine monuments to protect the fishing and oil industries. And out in the Pacific, local politicians and commercial interests don't like the plan to protect the waters found near the Mariana Trench.
John Gourley is an environmental consultant on the Island of Saipan who's worked for the fishing industry.
Mr. JOHN GOURLEY (Micronesian Environmental Service): We don't even have a voting member in Congress, and we've got the president of the U.S. who basically could slam the door on any future potential that is there. And there's just really no reason to slam the door.
NIELSEN: White House officials say there will be public hearings if the president moves ahead, even though the Antiquities Act does not require them. Meanwhile, environmentalists are urging the White House to seize the day, arguing that this president has an opportunity to create a historic blue legacy.
Elliott Norse of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute says there's a chance that President George W. Bush could end up being known as the Teddy Roosevelt of the oceans.
Dr. ELLIOTT NORSE (Marine Conservation Biology Institute): And more. President Roosevelt protected a total of about 230 million acres in national parks, national forests, national wildlife refugees, etc. President Bush could choose between now and the end of his administration to protect more area than President Roosevelt.
NIELSEN: The decision could come within the next month.
John Nielsen, NPR News, Washington.
ADAMS: And you can see a map of the five marine areas the White House is thinking about, along with photos from the deep ocean at our Web site. You can also read about some of the controversies past presidents have stirred up with the Antiquities Act. All that is at npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
