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EPA Region 7 to Participate at National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk Event

Release Date: 11/06/2009
Contact Information: Kris Lancaster, (913) 551-7557, [email protected]

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., Nov. 6, 2009) - EPA officials will attend the annual National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk event in Kansas City on Thursday, Nov. 12. Attendees will be available for news interviews in booth 70.

Interview topics include updates on air and water quality programs, concentrated animal feeding operations, biofuels compliance manuals, nutrient management, pesticides and renewable fuel standards.

WHAT: National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention and Trade Talk

WHEN: 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009

WHO: Larry Elworth, Counselor to the EPA Administrator for Agricultural Policy; William Rice, Acting Region 7 Administrator; Karen Flournoy, Region 7 Senior Agricultural Adviser; Damon Frizzell, Associate Agricultural Adviser; and Kris Lancaster, Public Affairs Specialist

WHERE: Booth 70, Westin Crown Center, 1 Pershing Road, Kansas City, Mo.


Biographies of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Booth 70 Staff
Larry Elworth is the Agricultural Counselor to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. In his more than 30 years in agriculture, he has managed and owned orchard and vineyard operations; served as head of the grower check-off program for apple growers in Pennsylvania; served as senior policy adviser for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Domestic Policy Council in the Clinton Administration. Recently, Elworth founded and directed the Center for Agricultural Partnerships and worked extensively on implementing conservation programs in the Chesapeake Bay, the southeast and other parts of the country.

William Rice currently serves as the Acting Regional Administrator for EPA Region 7. His responsibilities include managing programs in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Rice’s other EPA positions have included Deputy Region 7 Administrator, Director of the Region's Environmental Services Division and Chief of the Planning and Management Staff of an EPA laboratory in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Prior to joining EPA, Rice worked as an industrial engineer with a private firm in California. He holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Oregon State University and a Masters of Business Administration from Duke University.

Karen Flournoy is the Senior Agricultural Adviser and Deputy Director of the Water, Wetlands and Pesticides Division for EPA Region 7. She leads a number of agricultural and environmental initiatives including EPA’s involvement in Gulf hypoxia and nutrient water quality issues. Flournoy's EPA career began in 1978 and includes 14 years of experience in the hazardous waste and Superfund programs. She also served as Director of the Region 7 Office of Public Affairs. Flournoy has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Damon Frizzell is an Associate Agricultural Adviser in Region 7. In this position, he advises the Region 7 Administrator and management on agricultural issues and serves as a liaison with agricultural organizations and agencies. He has worked 19 years at EPA in numerous roles involving agriculture. Prior to working with EPA, he worked for both Farm Service Incorporated in Arkansas as an agriculture crop consultant, and the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service as a county agriculture agent delivering crop production technical assistance and educational assistance in livestock and row-crop production. He also has recently returned from Afghanistan, following a one-year tour of duty with the U.S. Army. He graduated from Oklahoma State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agronomy.

Kris Lancaster is an EPA spokesperson responsible for agriculture issues. He has 26 years of media relations experience and serves on the agriculture and biofuels team. He has been a licensed grain inspector at Kerr Grain & Seed, Inc., an agricultural adviser 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. Lancaster has been an active member of the Missouri Agribusiness Association and a board member of the Kansas Rural Development Council. He graduated from Central Missouri State University and completed an advanced sciences program at Park College with an emphasis in chemistry and physics.


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Learn more about the intersections of agriculture and the environment: www.epa.gov/region07/priorities/agriculture/index.htm