BLACKHAM NAMED TO EPA AGRICULTURAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

News Date February 25, 2008

       Continuing efforts to strengthen relations with the agriculture community, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson on February 20 announced the appointment of thirty citizens to serve on a newly-formed Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory Committee. Utah Agriculture Commissioner Leonard Blackham was appointed to the panel. 
       The committee is an important part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to strengthen relations with the agriculture community. It will advise the administrator on environmental policy issues impacting farms, ranches, and rural communities. The first meeting of the committee will take place March 13 to March 14, 2008, in Washington, D.C. Initially, EPA will ask the committee to focus on the following three issues: (1) how EPA's policies and regulations on climate change and renewable energy will affect the agriculture community; (2) an environmental strategy for managing waste from livestock operations which considers regulatory and voluntary approaches, and provides tools for producers to attain superior environmental performance; and (3) development of a constructive approach to advancing sustainable agriculture, protecting the environment, and addressing communication between environmental and agricultural interests. 
       Blackham is chairman of NASDA's Natural Resources and Pesticide Management Committee. He was selected for the advisory committee by EPA from a pool of more than 200 nominations. Other advisory committee members represent large and small farmers, ranchers, and rural communities; rural suppliers, marketers, and processors; academics and researchers who study environmental issues impacting agriculture; and, environmental and conservation groups. The committee is being developed as part of a comprehensive National Agriculture Strategy adopted by the EPA administrator in May 2006. The strategy seeks to engage agriculture in cooperative, collaborative, and innovative ways, in addition to the traditional regulatory programs the agency administers. (Contact: Carissa Wilhelm or Charlie Ingram)