George W. Bush, as president, has protected more ocean waters than anyone in history.
Were that his sole entry in the environmental record, he would be hailed as one of the all-time best friends of the Earth. But his exemplary acts to protect the world's waters were never duplicated to clear the air.
Bush was late to acknowledge the impact of greenhouse gases on climate change, and he wouldn't take strong measures to limit CO2 emissions in the United States. That will be left to the next president.
Still, Bush deserves a great deal of appreciation for his efforts to protect marine life. He issued an executive order Tuesday that safeguards 195,280 square miles of the Pacific Ocean as three separate marine national monuments.
The president's directive, using powers granted to him under the Antiquities Act of 1906, will restrict oil and gas exploration and commercial fishing around numerous remote U.S.-controlled islands in the central and western Pacific. Recreational fishermen must apply for permits to fish in the protected areas.
This week's declaration follows Bush's similar directive in 2006 that created a 138,000-square-mile marine national monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
"It has taken 137 years, since the creation of America's first national park in Yellowstone in 1872, to recognize that unique areas of the world's oceans deserve the same kind of protection as we have afforded similar places on land," Joshua S. Reichert of the Pew Environment Group told the Washington Post.
And it's all because of George Bush.