EPA Region 7 to Participate at National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk Event Nov. 14 in Kansas City, Mo. (MO)

Release Date: 11/12/2013

Contact Information: Kris Lancaster, 913-551-7557, lancaster.kris@epa.gov

Environmental News

NEWS MEDIA ADVISORY

(Lenexa, Kan., Nov. 12, 2013) - EPA officials will be available for interviews at the annual National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Trade Talk event at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, Nov. 14.

Interview topics include outreach to the agricultural community, regulatory updates, animal feeding operations, nutrient management and pesticides.

WHAT: National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention and Trade Talk

WHEN: 7:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013

WHO: Karl Brooks, Regional Administrator; Sarah Bittleman, EPA Agriculture Counselor; and Kris Lancaster, Agricultural Public Affairs Specialist

WHERE: Booth 74, Westin Crown Center, 1 Pershing Road, <location value="LU/us.mo.kancty" idsrc="xmltag.org">Kansas City, Mo.

Biographies of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Booth 74 Staff

Karl Brooks is Regional Administrator for EPA Region 7. He was appointed in February 2010 by President Barack Obama and reports directly to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. His EPA responsibilities include supervising environmental programs in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and nine tribal nations. Previous to this appointment, Brooks taught American environmental, political, and legal history as well as environmental law and policy at the University of Kansas. Brooks practiced trial and appellate law for a decade. He was elected in 1986 to the first of three terms in the Idaho Senate. Retiring from elective politics, from 1993 to 1996 he served the Idaho Conservation League as executive director and legislative liaison.

Sarah Bittleman is the EPA agriculture counselor to the Administrator. She previously served as senior advisor to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, where she specialized in energy and EPA issues. Before coming to USDA, she worked for the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives on a range of policy and strategic development issues involving agriculture, energy, natural resources, Native Americans and climate change. She holds a Master's of Public Administration from East Carolina University, a JD from Tulane University School of Law and a BA in political science from Union College in New York.

Kris Lancaster is an EPA spokesperson responsible for agriculture, pesticides, renewable fuels, water and wetland issues. His past agricultural employment includes serving as a licensed grain inspector, agricultural advisor to the chairman of the Missouri House Agriculture Committee and to two members of Congress, a farm real estate broker, a federal crop insurance broker, and a negotiator of agricultural leases for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His family owns a corn and soybean farm in Scotland County, Mo. Lancaster has three decades of media relations experience and serves on Region 7's Agriculture and Renewable Fuels Team. He graduated from Central Missouri State University and completed an advanced sciences program at Park University.

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