[Coral-List] Majuro mining: Bill Clinton's e.o.

[Dean Jacobson]

Greetings again:
A fellow lister mentioned an executive order recently, and a quick google turned up the following, which is quite relevant to past and future (as in this or next week!) coral mining sponsored by FAA at the Majuro airport; what is the coral reef task force, created by the same executive order, have to say?  Cannot something be done to stop or delay PII's shoreline coral mining activities, funded by FAA, part of an airport project that has zero mitigation, zero coral relocation, before the CRTF meets at the end of this month?

It was on the tenth anniversary of this e..o. that the "fire station" coral reef at the Majuro airport was mined and destroyed.  No mitigation, no regulation, no oversight, no responsibility, then and now.

Cheers,
Dean Jacobson

On June 11, 1998 President Clinton issued Executive Order 13089
on Coral Reef Protection "to preserve and protect the biodiversity,
health, heritage, and social and economic value of U.S. coral reef ecosystems
and the marine environment." The presidential directive was issued as part
of the National Ocean
Conference, a meeting
of U.S. ocean policy makers convened to mark the International Year of the
Ocean. The Executive Order directs all federal agencies to protect coral reef
ecosystems to the extent feasible, and instructs particular agencies to develop
coordinated, science-based plans to restore damaged reefs as well as mitigate
current and future impacts on reefs, both in the United States and around the
globe.
•               Conservation, Mitigation, and Restoration. The Task Force will
work with State, territorial, commonwealth, and local government agencies,
nongovernmental organizations, the scientific community and commercial
interests to develop and implement measures to restore damaged coral reefs, and
mitigate further coral reef degradation. These measures may include actions to
address problems such as land-based sources of water pollution, sedimentation,
detrimental alteration of salinity or temperature, over-fishing, over-use,
collection of coral reef species, and direct destruction caused by activities
such as recreational and commercial vessel traffic and treasure salvage. The
Task Force will also evaluate existing navigational aids, including charts,
maps, day markers, and beacons to determine if these can be improved for the
purpose of marking the locations of coral reefs.
International Cooperation. The Secretary of State and the
Administrator of the Agency for International Development, in cooperation with
other members of the Coral Reef Task Force, will assess the U.S. role in international
trade and protection of coral reef species, and implement appropriate
strategies and actions to promote conservation and sustainable use of coral
reef resources worldwide. Such actions shall include expanded collaboration
with other International
Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) partners, especially governments, to
implement the ICRI through its Framework for Action and the Global Coral Reef
Monitoring