WASHINGTON - June 15 - Friends of the Earth’s president, Erich Pica, had the following response to President Obama’s speech from the Oval Office this evening:

"President Obama said some of the right things tonight when he promised to hold BP accountable, to reform the agency that regulates offshore drilling, and to move our nation away from the oil dependence that led to this spill.

"However, the President failed to use this speech to call on Americans to meet their individual responsibility to help solve this problem. Each of us has a moral duty to reduce our consumption of oil, and a responsibility that comes with citizenship to make  elected officials do the right thing.

“We appreciate the President’s call tonight for policies that will generate more clean energy, but it is important to note that much of the energy legislation now being considered in Congress has been unduly influenced by polluting industries and will not get us to this goal.

“The President can and should go further in fighting the polluter lobbyists whose influence is at the root of our energy problems. Reforming the Minerals Management Service is a necessary, but not sufficient, step. Lobbyists from all dirty energy industries, not just oil, must be shown the door, and regulatory agencies that oversee coal mining, nuclear reactors and corporate agribusiness must also be reformed.