#TBT: President Barack Obama Protects Millions Of Acres Of Wilderness

     Barack Obama has one of the most impressive environmental legacies of any president, especially regarding the ocean. On March 30th, 2009, he signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, which designated 1.2 million acres of new wilderness protected area. Its more significant legacy was creating the National Landscape Conservation System. Before this, the wilderness system was up to the will of each president, having no congressional authorization.

     Obama protected more wilderness area than any president in American history, including Theodore Roosevelt. Much of this was in the form of marine reserves, including the first in the Atlantic Ocean and an area in Hawaii three times the size of Texas. In 2010, his Justice Department pursued criminal charges related to the BP oil spill and later secured the largest corporate settlement in American history. In 2011, he signed the Shark Conservation Act, which closed loopholes allowing the transshipment of shark fins in American waters.

     Other achievements include the Paris Climate Accord, the halt of new offshore leases in the Arctic and Atlantic, and new initiatives for electric energy that resulted in the first downturn in fossil fuel production in the United States.