From the Center for American Progress Action Fund on Friday:
ENVIRONMENT -- BECK, BOENHER CALL ARCTIC REFUGE A 'WASTELAND,' CLAIM WILDLIFE IS UNEFFECTED BY DRILLING: On Glenn Beck's CNN program Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) falsely claimed that wildlife in Alaska are not affected by oil operations there. Animals "couldn't care less whether...the pipeline was there, or the oil company was there," he said. Glenn Beck similarly argued that wildlife can't tell if the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline is a "tree or a pipeline," and said that the northern reaches of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- where Boehner hopes to drill -- are a "barren wasteland." Far from "not caring" about the presence of oil operations at the 800-square mile Prudhoe Bay facility, native species are dramatically affected by drilling. Scientific surveys have shown that the Central Arctic caribou herd has been "crowded out" due to drilling, reducing their use of the area near the Prudhoe Bay oil fields by 78 percent. In addition, the northern reaches of the Refuge are not a "barren wasteland." According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Refuge's northern edge is home to "a greater degree of ecological diversity than any other similar sized area of Alaska's north slope."
ADMINISTRATION -- EPA INVESTIGATOR SAYS VOLUNTARY TARGETS 'UNLIKELY' TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GASES: In April, President Bush called for a "voluntary target" of "halting the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025." But a report released yesterday by the Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that such voluntary pollution-reduction programs have "limited potential" to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG). The report said that it is "unlikely" that voluntary programs would reduce more than 19 percent of greenhouse gas emissions that are projected for various industries in 2010. "If EPA wishes to reduce GHG emissions beyond this point, it needs to consider additional policy options," the report concluded. The Bush administration argues for voluntary programs to reduce carbon intensity, but according to the EPA, "persuading companies to spend money on optional activities 'presents a significant challenge to using voluntary programs as the current solution to reducing greenhouse gases.'" "We will not solve the global warming problem without an across-the-board mandatory program that every polluting company has to participate in," said David Doniger, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate Center.