Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency (AS-EPA) will be holding its first meeting today, Monday, August 13, 2018 with their new Regional Administrator Mike Stoker, who is based out of USEPA's Region 9 Office in San Francisco. Stoker arrived Thursday night, accompanied by John McCarroll, Manager of the USEPA Region 9 Pacific Islands Office, to attend the 40th U.S. Coral Reef Task (USCRTF) meeting held in American Samoa this week.

Stoker serves as the Regional Administrator for the EPA' s Region 9, based in San Francisco. He leads the Agency' s efforts in Arizona, California, Hawai’i, Nevada, the Pacific islands including Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and 148 tribal nations. The Region spans eight time zones and is home to more than 50 million people.

In addition, Stoker has spent his career serving the public and working as an attorney specializing in agriculture, labor, land use and environmental law . He most recently served as director of government affairs for United Agriculture, the second largest agricultural association in California. Stoker was a member of Santa Barbara County's Board of Supervisors from 1986-1994, chairman of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board from 1995-2000, and California deputy secretary of state from 2000-2002.

According to AS-EPA Director Ameko Pato, Regional Administrator Stoker will have a busy schedule during this week. Besides attending the USCRTF meeting, he will also be meeting with Governor  Lolo Matalasi Moliga and as well as the President of Senate and Speaker of the House.

Stoker visited the Manu'a Islands over the weekend along with other USCRTF delegation members.

He will be meeting the AS-EPA staff this morning and present certificates for senior staff who have recently completed Leadership Training Program conducted by the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) President Dr. Rosevonne Makaiwi Pato and staff.

Numerous site visits have also been scheduled for Stoker such as: ASPA drinking water wells; village water system; agriculture/aquaponic farms; piggery sites; landfill; waste water treatment plant and the NOAA National Weather Service C02 monitoring station in Tula Village.

Director Pato and staff are very happy to host Stoker on this, his first trip to American Samoa and also his very first trip within the Region 9 jurisdiction as the Regional Administrator. "I want to make sure that our Regional Administrator gets to see our beautiful paradise that we call home and that his support for AS-EPA and American Samoa's environmental protection efforts remains strong,” Pato said.

Pato expresses his sincerest gratitude and Fa'afetai Tele Lava to Stoker, for taking the time to meet with the local EPA staff. He wishes him a happy stay in American Samoa and safe travels home.