|
Regan outlines clear focus on environmental health and engagement with all stakeholders...
Story Date: 2/5/2021
| |
Source: CROPLIFE AMERICA, 2/3/21
Earlier today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator nominee Michael Regan appeared before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. During the hearing, Regan fielded a wide variety of questions from the Senate panel, balancing the urgent need for regulation around climate change, clean water and air while creating pragmatic solutions that allow businesses to operate. Regan’s work as a former EPA employee and now as the head of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality gives him a unique background that came through as he answered a diverse round of questions from the committee.
Regan spoke to his background in agriculture and the importance of hearing from all stakeholders when evaluating environmental issues to create effective regulation. Increased transparency around EPA decisions, following science, a renewed focus on environmental justice, and the need for more funding punctuated many of Regan’s answers. His commitment to these issues coupled with the pledge to create consistent processes for businesses the EPA oversees is encouraging. During the hearing, Regan noted that U.S. farms and farmers’ needs vary depending on the crops grown, the soil structure, regional weather and more. This acknowledgment highlights the need for pesticides as one of the crop protection tools farmers and ranchers can use with a variety of farming techniques like conservation tillage and use of cover crops to continue growing healthy food for communities across the country.
“Mr. Regan has made his intentions to engage with all stakeholders a priority,“ said Chris Novak, CLA’s president and CEO. “In January, my agriculture CEO colleagues and I met with Mr. Regan to discuss the priorities we had previously shared with the Biden campaign. His understanding of, and history of working with, agriculture is an asset as his role as Administrator will require him to work on pesticide issues that impact farmers, community health professionals, and consumers. We look forward to his confirmation and to having an open dialogue on regulatory issues.”
The EPA is the federal agency that has the primary responsibility to regulate pesticides. Similar to the process for approving medicines, EPA’s career scientists review hundreds of studies before any pesticide can be registered for use in the U.S. The extensive process is why only one in 10,000 chemistries will make it from the lab to the field—a process that can take, on average, more than 11 years.
|
|
|
|
