Just heard about this story on the radio, which I think is pretty big, but I fear may get swept aside by some of the other trending topics:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving to protect fragile marine life, President Barack Obama announced plans Tuesday to create the largest ocean preserve in the world by banning drilling, fishing and other activities in a massive stretch of the Pacific Ocean.
Using presidential authority that doesn't require new action from Congress, Obama proposed to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which President George W. Bush designated to protect unique species and rare geological formations. The waters are all considered U.S. territory because they surround an array of remote, mostly uninhabited islands that the U.S. controls between Hawaii and American Samoa.
If I heard the radio report correctly, this move could potentially double the size of all currently protected waters in the world. This is also another
recent example where Obama sidestepped Congress to actually get something meaningful done.
While the analysis seems to be that this will have a modest effect on current commercial fishing and drilling, this would be a huge symbolic move on the President's part in support of environmental protection coming ahead of commercial interests.
Even amongst the most liberal of us here at dailykos, there is no end to the people who want to criticize President Obama and cite examples where he has not lived up to his potential. Still, as has been recently noted, Obama has made great strides in a great number of areas, and he deserves significant credit for that.
While environmentalists everywhere should tout this effort to protect our precious oceans, we should also remind ourselves that this is just one example where Obama, and even all the representatives we send to Washington, needs to step up on matters that affect our environment.
3:32 PM PT: In addition, the island nation of Kiribati announced that it would close an area of ocean roughly the size of California to commercial fishing, and Britain is considering creating a similar ocean sanctuary around the Pitcairn Islands.
Still, there is definitely value in setting the perception that the United States is leading the way on such an important issue, and perhaps more importantly, to live up to that perception.