President George W. Bush on Monday announced plans to create two new offshore sanctuaries in the central and western Pacific Ocean (The Associated Press). The move has already earned the praise of environmentalists who, though they might deny him a green legacy, are perfectly willing to support the president’s efforts to achieve a “”https://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/25/president-bush-could-earn-a-blue-legacy-with-marine-conservation-plan/“>blue legacy.”

The proposal, detailed in a memo here, would represent an impressive follow-up to his 2006 announcement creating the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. Papahānaumokuākea covers more than 139,797 square miles, an area larger than all of the United States’ national parks combined.

But that monument would be dwarfed by the latest proposal. The central-Pacific designation could be nearly as large as Alaska, making it the largest protected area in the world, according to the US-based Environmental Defense Fund. Meanwhile, the proposed designation around the Northern Mariana Islands would include the deepest part of the ocean at the Marianas Trench.

It’s not yet clear how the designations might play out. The president has asked various federal agencies for input on the idea (including its impact on military activities), and he has various legal options as far as implementation goes. The simplest, and therefore the most likely, is to declare a pair of national monuments, which any president can do almost anywhere at the proverbial stroke of the pen.

The president’s memo raises the possibility of prohibiting fishing, mining and energy development, all of which were banned at Papahānaumokuākea. But threats can come from afar, too, as trash floats in from the around the globe. And on this point, apparently things have gotten worse at Papahānaumokuākea.