Photo Credit: John J. Boling 2005-11-10 - Airport-Data.com

A petition is being circulated online to request President Obama to help protect the shoreline coral reefs around the Marshall Islands. From what Reef Tools has been able to gather, expansion of the Majuro Airport is close to breaking ground. The construction of the airport expansion is funded by the U.S. Government and the work is being performed by local contractors. It is stated that the FAA turns its head as the contractors wreak havoc on the native coral reefs by miming the coral for use as fill. The petition states there is an abundance of useable fill that could be used away from the coral reefs.

The petition also points out that in 2008 a fire station was constructed on the Marshall Islands using fill from a large reef in the area of the construction site. President Clinton signed an executive order (Order 13089) protecting coral reefs outside of the U.S. The petition is asking President Obama to push the local EPA and FAA to adhere to the order.

The petition is sponsored by Dean Jacobson, Ph.D., coral ecologist and can be found here.