In a not-at-all shocking speech, President Bush has called for an increase in domestic oil drilling, and in particular getting into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

From an article on the speech in the Houston Chronicle:

'Bush complained that Capitol Hill has come to equate support for drilling in the wildlife refuge with indifference about the environment.

He suggested a different equation: opposition to opening up the area means "you don't care about the gasoline prices that people are paying."

Ok, few things here.

The United States has 1.8% of the world's remaining supply of oil. This means that if we drill every last drop, we're never going to be self-sufficient, and eventually we will run out. Drilling more is simply prolonging the problem - though that's never stopped the Bush Administration before.

Secondly, Bush said, '"That [drilling in the Refuge] would be about a 20 percent increase of ... crude oil production over U.S. levels, and it would likely mean lower gas prices," but check this out, Mr. President. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not a 7-11, it's an unspoiled, remote area - you can't just throw a hose up there, and start pumping down crude this month. Experts estimate it will take 10 years to get the oil online, so it's a complete red herring in terms of actually solving the problem.

Thirdly, why is he not calling for the oil companies to offer a little 'refuge' from high gas prices? The same article notes that BP and Shell are both reporting first quarter growth in profits. Hmmmm.....maybe, just maybe, if he insists that our nation remain addicted to oil, he could ask his oil buddies to take a hit, and not just the environment or consumers.

Crazy? You betcha!

As you know there's been a move to get the polar bear protected under the Endangered Species Act for several years now, and the Bush Administration has continued, time and again, to drag their feet on the issue.

BUT! It was announced that the US District Court has ruled the Administration has to make a decision by May 15. Obviously, groups like EA have been pointing out the ridiculous coincidence that the decision on the polar bear has been delayed at the same time the Bush team has been working to sell of thousands of acres of polar bear habitat for oil and gas drilling.

Kudos to those pesky activist judges!

Dependence Day is coming up next month. In case you don't know, we import close to two-thirds of our oil - and Dependence Day is the day when we effectively run out of our domestic supply of oil for the year.

This year, to 'celebrate' Dependence Day', I'm working to get 5,000 people to pledge that on that day - May 30th - they will drive nowhere. If just 5,000 of us take part, we will be keeping 100,000 pounds of CO2 out of the air - and sending a strong message to our elected officials that we need real solutions.

So, will you pledge to take part in Drive Nowhere Day on May 30th? Simply click the link below, or paste it into your browser, to sign the pledge.

Last year four presidential candidates took up the our Dependence Day initiative to double the gas mileage standard (and two of them are still in the race), so we're hoping for even greater success in 2008.

Drive Nowhere Day will be great for two reasons:

First, it will help reduce our consumption of oil, and hopefully a bunch of people will make every Friday Drive Nothing Day, not just May 30th
Second, we will be sending a message to our elected officials that scores of people are willing to give up their cars, if we have good public transit
So please, join me in pledging that on Dependence Day, May 30, you will drive nowhere.

And for this to work, you've got to tell your friends and family to get involved, so please, get this message out there far and wide!

I love the Union of Concerned Scientists. They've released a new report, plugged by Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-CA), that highlights how deep scientific censorship runs in the EPA.

The UCS surveyed 1,600 EPA scientists with some shocking results:

- Over 22% of these scientists reported that "selective or incomplete use of data to justify a specific regulatory outcome" occurred "frequently" or "occasionally" at EPA

- Over 500 EPA scientists knew of "many" or "some" cases "where EPA political appointees had inappropriately involved themselves in scientific decisions."

- Overall, 889 EPA scientists said they "personally experienced at least one incident of political interference during the past five years."

-Nearly half of the scientists said that EPA determinations "occasionally, seldom, or never make use of the best judgment of its scientific staff."

None of this is exactly news, or even terribly shocking. We've seen nonstop censorship of science within the Administration. And, that's exactly why we've been calling for EPA Administrator Johnson's resignation. If you haven't yet done so, please send Johnson an email and tell him it's time for him to step down.

Today is the 38th anniversary of Earth Day, which as you may know, is the celebration that gave birth to Environmental Action.

I'm a little frustrated though because Earth Day was meant to be a day of ACTION, not just a day for concerts and tips on where to by a hemp organic grocery bag.

Now, don't get me wrong - I use reusable bags, a reusable mug, I compost, and have green lightbulbs. I believe in personal action to help the environment, I do. BUT consider the difference between convincing everyone to buy an energy efficient car or to change their lightbulbs, and instead getting our elected officials and corporate America to enact and enforce pro-environmental policies. Convincing 217 members of Congress, or 300 million people? Gotta go with the long term change.

Next week, we're kicking off our 'Dependence Day' campaign - and it will be a good combo of the political and the personal, and I hope you'll take part.

In the meantime, enjoy Lewis Black's Earth Day rant from 2007:

I'm pretty excited. This weekend dozens of events are happening where Environmental Action members are bringing their friends together for an afternoon of food, fundraising and political action.

If you're hosting, you can find the materials you need here. If you aren't hosting an event, but want to throw one together, click back there anyway.

At these events, folks will be writing letters to their local papers calling on EPA Administrator Johnson to step down given his complete and total lack of doing anything to protect the environment in his tenure.

Have a great weekend everybody, and if you are hosting an event, PLEASE take some pictures to send in so we can make you famous on this here website.

There's an interview with EPA Administrator Johnson in the most recent issue of the National Journal, which is pretty illuminating. Honestly the piece is pretty weak - the interviewer asks a question about some 'controversy' within the EPA, which Johnson then says, 'oh yeah, not a big deal', and the interviewer moves on to the next 'controversy'.

Grist and Climate Progress have good stories on the interview, but one of the funniest pieces was this one:

NJ: Congress is concerned that you're spending $280,000 for a two-week trip to Australia.

Johnson: It's all part of the continuing collaboration between Australia and the United States. I, as administrator, have taken a very limited number of international trips. It's an important trip, and we're very open and transparent about our activities. This [congressional criticism] is much ado about nothing and certainly might be viewed by some as an unnecessary outburst of concern when we ought to be doing orderly business with our international partners to help improve the environment.

Really? $280,000 for a two-week trip to Australia? I like that his reasoning - I've taken a limited number of international trips - comes off sounding a little like he's saying, 'look - I'll be out of a job soon, and I want to take advantage of the BENIES! Australia, brah!'

Well done, Mr. Johnson, well done. If you want to get more fired up about how ridiculous the EPA currently is, definitely read the full interview.

This is a joke, right? According an anonymous White House official, President Bush is urging a halt to CO2 emission growth by 2025. Notwithstanding the facts that a) halting emissions increase by 2025 won't do the job, and b) he's waited until he's got nine months left in office to propose anything on global warming, this is one of the funniest articles I've read all year.

I mean, how on earth could the reporter write this line, "The official also confirmed that Bush would not detail specific proposals on how to reach that goal", and not just crack up?

How about this telling paragraph?

Bush does plan to say he would oppose raising taxes, abandoning nuclear or coal power and imposing trade barriers as ways to halt the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, the official said.

I'm sorry, but what on earth is he doing? Trying to co opt the issue tremendously late in the game? It was better when he was fighting us, rather than paying us lame lip service, and offering up nothing.

In a pretty frightening article from Mother Jones, it was revealed that cops and former secret service agents ran a security agency who spied on green groups from 1990 into 2000.

Seems that everything from organizational infiltration to trash snooping was on board for the firm. From the article:

Like other firms specializing in snooping, Beckett Brown turned to garbage swiping as a key tactic. BBI officials and contractors routinely conducted what the firm referred to as "D-line" operations, in which its operatives would seek access to the trash of a target, with the hope of finding useful documents. One midnight raid targeted Greenpeace. One BBI document lists the addresses of several other environmental groups as "possible sites" for operations: the National Environmental Trust, the Center for Food Safety, Environmental Media Services, the Environmental Working Group, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, an organization run by Lois Gibbs, famous for exposing the toxic dangers of New York's Love Canal. For its rubbish-rifling operations, BBI employed a police officer in the District of Columbia and a former member of the Maryland state police.

Seriously, this is ridiculous. Have you ever heard of a legitimate environmental group taking this kind of action? Surely not, because as dorky as it might be, every environmentalist I know believes in the United States and democracy, and in what a great nation we are.

We believe in the fight, but we also believe for the fight to be worth it, you have to fight fairly. Too bad our opponents don't feel the same. So, go read that article, get pissed off, and then come on back here and take some action. You'll feel better, I promise.

Yesterday, it was announced that Rep. Henry Waxman has, yet again, subpoenaed the EPA for the third time this year.

According to the report, Waxman's staff is saying they've found evidence that EPA staff met with the White House about the denial of California's clean air exemption request. You can read a little background on our work on this issue here.

This is actually pretty huge. Back in January when Administrator Johnson was in front of Sen. Boxer's Environmental and Public Works Committee, he was asked repeatedly if the EPA had met with the White House about the California rule. He kept dodging the question saying only that he met with the White House often, but could not remember what about specifically.

Hopefully, Waxman's folks will help us get to the bottom of the issue, and we applaud both his and Sen. Boxer's continued commitment to holding Johnson accountable.

If you're like me, when bad news breaks for our environment, you find yourself sending out a lot of e-mails - spreading the word to your friends, neighbors, coworkers, your third cousin, your mail carrier and pretty much anyone else who'll listen. That's one great way to make a difference. But in honor of Earth Day 2008, I'm going to ask you to do something the folks in your address book will like even better.

Will you host an Earth Day barbecue for your friends?

Like at most barbecues, on Sunday, April 20th, I'll be grilling up some veggie burgers and having a few beers with my friends. But there will be one little difference - I'm going to ask each of my guests to pitch in $5 for Environmental Action, and we'll each take a few moments to write a letter to our local newspaper, calling for EPA Administrator Johnson to step down.

This Earth Day, I'm inviting 50 of you to do the same thing. Will you host a barbecue fundraiser on the weekend of April 19-20th? Click here to RSVP and to learn more.