Closer to Outer Brewster

HARDCORE ISLANDS" is the apt term used by Alan Mikal in his 1973 guidebook ``Exploring Boston Harbor" to describe the windswept, surf-hammered cluster of four Brewster Islands at the easternmost reach of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. The most dramatic of the group, and the farthest out to sea, is 17-acre Outer Brewster Island, a place teeming with shore birds and set apart by high bluffs.

The AES Corporation, one of the world's major power companies, wants to put an import and storage facility for liquefied natural gas on Outer Brewster. The company has found backers in the Legislature who seem fine with blasting out the interior of the island and stripping Outer Brewster of its protected park status. It's a doleful prospect and especially ill-conceived given the emergence of promising alternatives, including buoy-based LNG terminals farther out to sea.

The more people experience Outer Brewster, the greater the likelihood that a strong sense of public stewardship will form around the island. But overprotectiveness on the part of the National Park Service could undermine efforts to save the island. Unlike Georges and other islands with frequent ferry service, the Park Service views Outer Brewster more in terms of resource protection than public enjoyment. People can view the island from nearby Little Brewster when visiting the nation's first lighthouse, or from passing whale watch cruises. But only those with private boats and adventurous spirits now land on the island and traverse its rocky uplands.

Outer Brewster can't accommodate tens of thousands of visitors annually and should remain as undisturbed as possible during nesting season. But the addition of a dock to accommodate a reasonable level of ferry service for a modest number of visitors would help to reinforce the peerless nature of the island. State and Park Service officials are just beginning to consider ways to encourage visitors. They should quicken their efforts. If the public can't land on Outer Brewster, then the energy conglomerate might.

Outer Brewster should be out of the way, but not out of reach.