Stacey Plaskett

Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you for this hearing and all the hearing that you have held which are important to the American people.

I agree wholeheartedly with you.

Congressman Ted Lieu and I introduced the Renewable Energy for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands Act, H.R. 2791, to create a small, new assistance program within the Agriculture Department.

The viability and sustainability of energy in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico is of the utmost importance for the well-being of our rural communities.

Are there any Rural Development components to disaster aid after a rural area has experienced disaster, and is there anything Congress should consider in this regard?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for this hearing. I am especially glad to see Under Secretary Torres Small with us.

This is not what happened in Pigford. This is what is still going on today.

I am really grateful for it.

Efforts to modernize the regulatory environment for products of biotechnology have transcended Administrations and party lines--a tradition we hope to see continued.

If you could have your staff get back to me as to whether or not they have seen any quantifiable difference in the food security

I represent the Virgin Islands, and of course, you are aware that the non-contiguous United States, that is, U.S. Territories along with Hawaii and Alaska, have been provided through the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, a new program…

Energy costs on our islands are higher than anywhere in the country, and our geographic locations leave us vulnerable to climate change

I believe this is so timely as we move into hearings regarding the farm bill.

The Water Resources Development Act, traditionally renewed every two years, authorizes a variety of water projects for construction, including projects to improve navigation, flood control, hurricane and storm damage reduction, shoreline…

The purpose of the project is to remediate the contamination caused by overflowing oil storage at the oil collection points, and to construct proper containment areas for the oil storage for the Do-It-Yourself oil users of the U.S. Virgin…

I have requested, with other Members from the noncontiguous U.S., that the committee include language to authorize the Secretary, in conducting a study of flood risk management or hurricane and storm damage risk reduction, to recommend a…

Now more than ever, it's critical that we build the infrastructure we need to make our communities resilient to drought and better manage our water resources.

I think that trade--it is interesting, being a Member of the Agriculture Committee, but also being a Member of the Ways and Means Committee, trade policy and priority is something that I think quite often about.

I just will continue to push on this Committee to make sure that any solutions to these problems that we develop does not leave any of those small farmers behind.

One proposal to address this in the Caribbean region is the Renewable Energy for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands Act, H.R. 2791.

My district and other remote areas of the United States have developed energy plans to move forward further away from relying on petroleum for power and fuel.

This has been very enlightening, and thank you for your research and the work that you are doing in this area.

It is crucial that we continue to find ways to increase the resiliency of our food and agricultural systems.

We really do rely on all of you, as witnesses, and the industry to make the information that you are doing with gene editing palatable.

The speed of regulation seems to be even slower, and we need to kind of speed that up a little bit.