As you know, several listening sessions are being held across the county to solicit and exchange ideas on incentives, partnership programs, and regulations that can improve results and promote cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships.  In addition to Interior and EPA, the Agriculture Department, the Commerce Department and the White House Council on Environmental Quality are sponsoring the sessions.  

On Tuesday, August 22^nd, Bill Kennedy, Chairman of the Board for the Family Farm Alliance, traveled to Redmond, Oregon and spoke to an audience that included Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Dale Hall (Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Mark Rey (Under Secretary of Department of Agriculture), Rick Otis (EPA Deputy Associate Administrator,Office of Policy Economics and Innovation) and Bob Lohn (NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator).

In most cases, oral testimony is limited to 2-3 minutes per speaker.  

More sessions are planned for other parts of the West. A schedule of upcoming meetings follows this message. We encourage that you attend the meeting closest to you, since the input received at these sessions will influence Administration rulemaking and policy decisions in the next two years. I’ve also prepared some talking points that reflect the Alliance ’s position on implementation of the ESA, NEPA and Clean Water Act. This paper is structured in a way that answers some of the specific questions that Administration policy officials have said they want to ask at the listening sessions. Please feel free to draw from these points as you prepare testimony.   

Finally, please let me know if you have attended or plan to attend one of these meetings. If you have testimony that you would like to share with other Western water users, please do not hesitate to contact me.   

Schedule of Cooperative Conservation Listening Sessions

Sponsored by the Departments of Interior, Commerce, Agriculture,

the EPA and the Council on Environmental Quality

o        August 30, 2006

o        Enid , Oklahoma , 1 p.m., Cherokee Strip Conference Center , Piner Hall. Tenny will attend.

o        September 5, 2006

o        Corpus Christi , Texas , 1 p.m., Omni Marina Hotel , Riviera Ballroom. Commerce Deputy Secretary David Sampson will attend.

o        September 12, 2006

o        Show Low, Arizona , 10 a.m., Northland Pioneer College , Silver Creek Campus (Snowflake), Performing Arts Center Theatre (PAC-103). Agriculture Under Secretary Mark Rey will attend.

o        September 13, 2006

o        Redding , California , 1 p.m., Cascade Theater. United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary, Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey will attend.

o        September 15, 2006

o        Colorado Springs , Colorado , 9 a.m., University of Colorado at Colorado Springs , the Gymnasium. United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary, Natural Resources and Environment, Mark Rey will attend.

o        September 19, 2006

o        Pinedale , Wyoming , 1 p.m., Sublette County Library, Lovatt Room, 156 S. Tyler . Michael Bogert, Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior, will attend.

o        September 27, 2006

o        Waco , Texas , 10 a.m., Waco Convention Center . Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary David Verhey and Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Alex Beehler will attend.

o        September 28, 2006

o        Colton , California , 10 a.m., Colton High School Auditorium. Kempthorne will attend.