    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 16 (Monday, April 24, 2006)]
    [Pages 745-747]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks at the President's Environmental Youth Awards Ceremony

    April 20, 2006

        The President. Thank you. Please be seated. Thanks for coming.
    Welcome. Glad you're here. Sorry I'm a little late. I just finished
    having a lunch with President Hu Jintao of China, a very important
    lunch. I hope you forgive me for running a little late. But thanks for
    letting us come by to say hello. I'm proud to join Steve Johnson in
    honoring young Americans who have given time and energy to help make
    this country a better place. We're really glad you're here.
        You're serving as young stewards of the environment, which means
    you're setting a good example for what it means to be a citizen. It's,
    like, what we call citizenship in action. And you're helping make
    America a wonderful place. And so we're really glad you're here. I'm
    glad to be a part of the award ceremony.
        I want to thank all the Administrators from the EPA who are here,
    but I particularly want to thank Steve and Debbie for joining us as
    well. We're here to honor, Steve, in case you don't know it yet--
    [laughter]--49 young Americans who are helping to protect the natural
    heritage of our country. I appreciate the fact that you're setting good
    examples too, by the way, and doing what you're doing, you're showing
    people how to lead and how to be a responsible citizen.
        I appreciate the rain gardens that were built in places like
    Massachusetts and Michigan to catch runoff and prevent it from polluting
    local rivers and streams. That's a smart idea; thanks for doing it. In
    New York, folks here have organized volunteers to stencil warnings near
    neighborhood sewers. That's

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    a good way to help protect the environment, isn't it?
        In Pennsylvania, folks here built an environmental demonstration
    house to showcase environmental products and technologies. It makes a
    lot of sense to showcase new technologies. After all, technologies are
    going to help change the world in a positive way so that we can be good
    stewards of the environment.
        As a matter of fact, one of the technologies that are--a part of the
    technological revolution that we're pushing hard here is to change the
    way we drive our automobiles. One of these days, we're going to have
    what they call hybrid plug-in batteries. You'll be able to drive your
    car for the first 40 miles on electricity. That seems to make sense. It
    does a couple of things. One, it helps to improve the environment, but
    it also makes us less dependent on oil. And one of my hopes is that one
    of these days, the cars you drive won't be using any oil but will be
    using hydrogen, as a way to protect the environment. So those of you who
    are working on new technologies, thanks. It's a smart thing to do.
    That's exactly what this Government needs to be doing more of as well,
    and will be doing more of.
        I'm proud to welcome folks from Georgia, and your club called ``The
    Creek Freaks.'' [Laughter] When I first heard the name, I thought it
    might be like a band or something, you know? [Laughter] I welcome the
    folks from Arkansas, who are clearing trash. By the way, the Creek
    Freaks are helping to protect wetlands. I don't know if you know this,
    but we've increased the wetlands by a half-a-million acres over 2 years.
    That's a really important initiative. And for those of you who are
    helping do that, I want to thank you very much.
        In Arkansas you've cleared trash and developed projects to stabilize
    the banks of a local stream. Thanks for coming, welcome. If you happen
    to get close to Texas, tell them hello.
        In Missouri, you restored a portion of a park--adjacent to a
    school--to a native prairie. I don't know if you know this or not, but
    Laura and I are fortunate to own some property in central Texas, near a
    town called Crawford. You've heard of it, Richard. [Laughter] One of our
    projects is to restore as much of our land as possible to native grasses
    and wildflowers. We've got buffalo grasses, bluestem--little bluestem
    grass. And interestingly enough, we've converted about 50 to 60 acres of
    our land to--so we can provide seed for people so they can then plant
    little bluestem. And it's a neat project, and I would encourage ranchers
    and farmers to be able to find ways to help plant native grasses, just
    like the kids from Missouri have done here.
        In Alaska, you built a grated wall that provides access to a local
    creek. That makes sense, you know. People ought to be allowed to have
    access to nature, but you want to do it in a way that protects the
    environment. It's one of the reasons why I proposed that we spend $5
    billion on making sure that the maintenance issues in our national parks
    are improved, and we're on the way to making sure that happens. I
    believe in national parks, and I believe people ought to have access to
    national parks. After all, it's the people's parks; it's not a handful
    of people's parks. It's everybody's park. And the Federal Government has
    a role to maintain those parks, and we're doing a good job of that.
        In California, 8-year-olders here launched a composting and
    recycling effort called, ``The Wonderful Weird World of Worms.''
    [Laughter] That's kind of hard for me to say. [Laughter]
        Got some folks from Utah that built a hybrid land speed racer which
    he drives to school and races at the nearby salt flats to raise
    awareness about alternative fuel vehicles. I just talked to you about
    the hybrid plug-in battery and hydrogen. There's another alternative
    fuel that we need to use in our vehicles, and that's ethanol. I don't
    know if you study that in your schools, but it's possible to make fuel
    for automobiles from corn. As a matter of fact, we're doing quite a bit
    of that in the Midwest--or sugar. Sugarcane is pretty good for making
    fuel--ethanol.
        But we're close to some breakthroughs, some technological
    breakthroughs that will enable us to make ethanol from wood chips and
    compost. And when we hit that, all of a sudden, you're going to see
    ethanol all across the country. It makes sense to drive

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    our cars from agricultural products, doesn't it, as opposed to oil?
        And so thank you for setting such a good example. We're really glad
    you're here. You know, good environmental policy requires Federal
    effort, but it also requires State effort and local effort and volunteer
    effort. All of us need to pitch in to make--to conserve the land and
    make this country as beautiful as can be. And by being here today,
    you're showing a strong commitment for the future of our country. And
    we're blessed that we've got people like you that are willing to do what
    you did.
        So I want to welcome you. I want to welcome you all; I want to
    welcome your teachers. Thank you for being here. Thanks for teaching. I
    want to welcome your parents. I really appreciate you raising such good
    folks. And I want to welcome the EPA Administrator to announce the
    awards. God bless, thanks for coming.

    [At this point, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
    Stephen L. Johnson introduced the award recipients from each region, and
    the President congratulated them.]

        The President. Thanks for coming. Congratulations.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:59 p.m. in Room 450 of the Dwight D.
    Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to
    Debbie Johnson, wife of EPA Administrator Johnson; and Richard E.
    Greene, Evironmental Protection Agency Region VI Administrator.