I am Tara Harris and I serve as Senior Marketing Specialist for VHB, an engineering, landscape architecture, environmental services, and planning firm with four offices and more than 100 employees in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I work side by side with soil scientists regularly in designing infrastructure projects.

I am urging the Board to continue licensure for Soil Scientists in Virginia for the following reasons:

Protection of Public Health, Safety, and Welfare

Deregulation of soil scientists and the practice of soil science would likely result in the following impacts:

• Jeopardizing the public safety, health, and welfare of Virginians and visitors to Virginia as competency obtained through a licensing exam and continuing education would be eliminated
• Removing accountability and confidence in the profession that consumers, state agencies and local governments rely upon
• Transferring accountability and risk from soil scientists to consumers

Fair Competition and Economic Impact

Deregulation of soil scientists and the practice of soil science would likely result in the following impacts:

• Jeopardizing the livelihoods of licensed professionals, small business owners and employees during a current time of economic hardship due to COVID 
• Shifting the volume of work from soil scientists to engineers, architects, and surveyors that may not be minimally competent to practice some aspects of soil science.