Bush right to review Hawai'i reef reserve

In his review of the plethora of last-minute executive orders issued by outgoing President Bill Clinton, his successor no doubt will dump some worthy initiatives because of his philosophical differences.

That likely won't be the case with the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Reserve. Clinton decided to impose this designation on this pristine area against the wishes of the governor, the congressional delegation, the restaurant and bottom-fish industry and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. Even environmentalists said it wasn't quite what they'd hoped for.

Buy-in, of course, is the key. If the parties involved don't feel their interests have been heard and served in the final product, the result will be so much empty rhetoric.

Sure, Bush brings an aversion to putting the environment ahead of commerce, but the failure to build a sound foundation through haste may have done more harm than doing nothing at all.