White House (CNSNews.com) – In signing proclamations to preserve nearly 200,000 square miles of ocean from commercial use on Tuesday, President George W. Bush heralded his administration’s eight years of environmental stewardship.
 
“The new steps I've announced today are the capstone of an eight-year commitment to strong environmental protection and conservation,” Bush said at a White House gathering of more than 60 people, many of them government officials and conservation activists.
 
“Look, I know that sounds contrary to the conventional wisdom of many in the news media. But let me just share a few facts about our record – and you can be the judge for yourself,” the president added.
 
Bush said that air pollution has dropped by 12 percent since 2001; that his administration imposed the strictest air quality standards in American history; that 3.6 million acres of wetlands have been protected; $40 billion in government loans were dedicated to green technology; and 27 million acres of federal forest land have been protected from wildfires.


He also touted energy legislation that he signed, as well as new fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles.
 
The three marine reserves that total about 195,274 square miles are the Mariana Trench, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Rose Atoll in America Samoa. Officials from the Mariana Islands and America Samoa attended the proclamation-signing for protecting the waters, which was done through the executive branch without action by Congress.
 
Bush used the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows the president to proclaim any government-owned or government-controlled area off limits to commercial use. This is often used for land. In this case, the ocean area will be off limits to commercial fishing, waste dumping and mineral exploration.
 
There was actually none of this work going on in the ocean areas exempted, and little potential for it, said Ken Green, an environmental expert and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
 
“There is no sense in conserving something that is not under threat,” Green told CNSNews.com. “It is a gesture that will burnish his environmental legacy with little political cost.”
 
Further, Green questioned how enforceable this preservation would be because it is easier to police the use of land than the ocean.
 
While not commenting on this specific action of ocean conservation, Andrew Grossman, senior legal policy analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the vague 1906 statute allowing the president to act unilaterally is bad policy.
 
“At the time (1906) the government didn’t own all this land, and Congress didn’t really foresee this kind of power being used to create enormous, enormous environmental preserves that extend over marine habitat and block off just so much commercial potential,” Grossman told CNSNews.com.
 
However, Grossman also said that Bush has the legal authority to act on conserving the land, which was questionable with former President Bill Clinton, who enacted several executive orders to create large environmental preserves. This included preserving 95,000 acres of land in New Mexico’s Baca Ranch.
 
“The Clinton administration saw it as easier to get executive orders and were able to move more quickly with the greatest discretion,” Grossman told CNSNews.com. “At the same time, the legal standing of those orders has been questionable due to the authority Congress has.”
 
But another matter with Clinton acting without congressional backing is that he did not consult others as Bush did, said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.
 
“If there is one thing you can say about this president’s decision yesterday, it’s that there was a ton of consultation and sorting through recommendations,” Perino told CNSNews.com. “It has been the president and Mrs. Bush’s desire to make a mark on ocean conservation. It is something they have tried to do over the past eight years.”
 
The new monuments are home to such habitats as the giant land crab, pink coral and sharks. Also, there are underwater volcanoes and a sulfur pool in the Marinas Trench. The trench is the “deepest point on earth,” Bush said.
 
“Many scientists – and I want to thank the scientists who have joined us today – believe extreme conditions like these could have been the first incubators of life on Earth,” Bush said. “As further research is conducted in these depths, we will learn more about life at the bottom of the sea, and about the history of our planet.
 
“They will allow for research, free passage, and recreation, including the possibility of recreational fishing one day,” Bush said. “For seabirds and marine life, they will be sanctuaries to grow and thrive. For scientists, they will be places to extend the frontiers of discovery. And for the American people, they will be places that honor our duty to be good stewards of the Almighty's creation.”