[Judy Pino] 
Hello, and welcome 
to Green Scene,
EPA's environmental information 
podcast series that you can
take with you.
I'm Judy Pino with the 
Office of Multimedia.
EPA announced today the 
appointment of 29 people
to serve on the newly formed 
Farm, Ranch and Rural
Community Advisory Committee, 
which will provide advice to
the EPA administrator on 
environmental issues and
programs that impact or 
are of concern to farm,
ranches and rural communities.
To elaborate more on this 
groundbreaking decision
is Jon Scholl, Counsel to 
the Administrator for
Agricultural Policy.
Welcome, Jon.
Thanks for coming.
[Jon Scholl] 
Thank you.
[Judy Pino] 
Well, why is this such an 
important decision for
the agency and the 
ag community?
[Jon Scholl] 
Well, if you look at the issues 
that are going to challenge
the agency into the 
next several years,
agriculture's going to play 
a big role in that,
and we think, by sitting 
down at the same table,
having a better dialogue with 
the agricultural community,
we can get solutions that 
not only are good for the
environment, but also are 
good for agriculture.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, what will this 
committee contribute
to the decision-making 
progress of the agency?
Or process, I should say.
[Jon Scholl] 
I think there will be 
a couple of things.
Number one, greater awareness, 
to the extent that we can
understand better what's 
going on in the
agricultural community, 
and conversely to the
extent we can help agriculture 
understand the challenges
the agency has.
That's going to lead 
to the second point,
which is better solutions, 
you know, something that
not only will effectively 
address the environmental
problems we want to solve, 
but also do so in a way
that works for agriculture.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, as we mentioned, 
there are 29 people
appointed to serve 
this committee.
How do they 
get chosen?
[Jon Scholl] 
Well, we started out with 
a Federal Register notice,
and we had over 200 applicants; 
just had a terrific response
to the notice.
And at that point, 
then it was a matter
of the staff pouring through 
all those applications,
trying to make sure we had 
the kind of diversity and
the expertise that we were 
looking for in a lot of
different ways that reflects 
the diversity of the industry,
and then ultimately making 
a recommendation to the
administrator, who had the 
final sign-off on the group.
[Judy Pino] 
And these members 
will serve for…?
[Jon Scholl] 
It's a two-year term.
If it's like a lot of EPA 
advisory committees,
not necessarily everybody will 
rotate off at the end of those
two years.
They can serve more than 
one two-year term.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, the committee is part 
of a comprehensive national
agriculture strategy adopted by 
EPA Administrator Steve Johnson
back in May.
Tell us more about the 
administrator's strategy.
[Jon Scholl] 
Well, back in May of 2006 the 
administrator established this
ag strategy, we call it, 
and really what it seeks
to do is to send a message, 
not only internally within
the agency, but also to the 
industry, that says we want
to look at agriculture as a 
solution, and we think that
by developing collaborative, 
cooperative, innovative
partnerships in addition to the 
regulatory programs that the
agency's had, that we can make 
terrific progress on a lot of
environmental issues that are 
of interest and concern
to the agency, to society 
and to the industry.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, how does this particular 
committee fit into the overall
strategy of the agency?
[Jon Scholl] 
We have four goals established 
in the strategy.
A couple of them refer 
specifically to a
greater awareness of what's 
going on in the industry,
which we think this advisory 
committee will certainly bring.
The second one is greater 
communication.
By being able to talk to each 
other, communicate better,
we think we can create those 
kinds of partnerships that
can be very effective in 
helping us accomplish our
goals of creating a better 
environment for Americans.
[Judy Pino] 
Well, what are the issues 
you think will be tackled
in this committee?
[Jon Scholl] 
I'm sure that there will be 
a lot, and, of course,
that will evolve 
over time.
The ones we want to start 
with is renewable energy
and greenhouse gases.
Agriculture can play a 
very positive role,
has been and will continue 
in that area,
and there are a lot of questions 
we need to address.
A comprehensive 
livestock strategy;
we've got air quality concerns; 
we've got water quality concerns
that the agency's been dealing 
with and the agricultural
community has been 
struggling with,
and we think a comprehensive 
strategy can help more
effectively address some 
of those issues.
And then, finally, how do 
we communicate better?
How do we transfer information 
better so that we both can get
to the kinds of solutions that 
we seek for environmental
protection needs?
[Judy Pino] 
Well, that's fantastic.
Jon, thanks for coming and 
giving us information on
this newly formed committee.
[Jon Scholl] 
Thank you.
[Judy Pino] 
And, of course, if you want 
more information yourself
about EPA's agricultural 
programs and this committee,
please visit the EPA Web site 
at www.epa.gov/agriculture.
See you next time 
on Green Scene.