I find it interesting that nobody has brought this up.

Yesterday, President Bush used a loophole in the 1906 Antiquities Act in order to create a 140,000 square mile wildlife sanctuary.  To put that in perspective, the area is over twice the size of all national parks and monuments combined.  It is larger then 46 of the 50 United states.

He was motivated to do this because of a documentary by Jean-Michel Cousteau that he saw in April.  Mr. Cousteau gave the President a personal screening of the film, and he did some research on the current status of the proposed sanctuary.

In 1999 President Clinton put forth a proposal to make a sanctuary in the area, but it never went further then congressional hearings.  This is because it was put forth as a "Marine Sanctuary", which involves congressional hearings and waiting periods before it can be created.  By enacting the Antiquities Act, he was able to ignore all of the waiting periods and public responses and bring it about as an Executive Order.  And once in place, only an act of Congress can remove the new status.

In this area, all fishing will be banned by the end of June 2006.  It will protect over 7,000 endangered species, including some endangered waterfowl, lobsters, and the Monk Seal.

Myself, I saw the documentary myself last month.  I have long been a fan of both Mr. Cousteau and his father.  It was Jacques Cousteau's films that caused my interest in SCUBA diving.  And the only thing that gives me slight pause in this is the requirement for SCUBA divers.

With this sanctuary, permits will be required for any snorkeling or diving on the site.  This will hurt both sport divers, and charter companies because this area has long been a popular diving destination.

I am also concerned because of the precident this creates.  This is the second time that President Bush has enacted this law.  This shows that a President can shortcut the legislative process, and create National Parks at will.  What would happen if some future President uses this to create a similar park that covers the southern half of the Central Valley in California?  Or along the Colorado River, disrupting the water supply to California, Arizona and New Mexico?

While I applaud what happened, I am also concerned that it sets a dangerous precident.

Yes, it is a dangerous president, uh, precedent. I mean, he might start finding loop-holes such as the Sherman anti-trust act to break up the oil monopolies!
He might start going all green and ordering corporations to clean up the messes they make with their own money and say "no more" to poisoning the air, water, and soil with impunity.

I mean, if he was so impressed by Cousteau's movie, what if he sees Al Gore's movie!
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lol. him and rumsfeld and the rest of his cabinet might hold hands to form a ring around and try to levitate the pentagon to protest his own war.  wait till he starts wife swapping with hugo chavez and dressing up like jimi hendrix!

lol. him and rumsfeld and the rest of his cabinet might hold hands to form a ring around and try to levitate the pentagon to protest his own war.  wait till he starts wife swapping with hugo chavez and dressing up like jimi hendrix!

I say put Bush out on a rusty old fishing boat and make him "President of the Wildlife Sanctuary." OK, the dolphins did not elect him...but neither did we!
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