I am writing to ask you to oppose the elimination/deregulation of Licensed Soil Scientists, which would eliminate licensure for my profession. The General Assembly voted unanimously in 2011 to require licensure for soil scientists because of the potential risks due to a lack of regulation. Some of the negative consequences of unqualified professionals practicing soil science include:

• Detrimental repair costs to homeowners
• Contaminated water and dead vegetation as a result of a failure to identify acid-sulfate soil 
• Shrink-swells that cause cracked foundations, falling roadways, retaining walls
• Failure to identify suitable soils for their capacity of taking on and treating septic effluent from residential homes and commercial/industrial facilities

My Company Manufactures Drip dispersal equipment for the land application of wastewater and relies heavily on qualified site and soil evaluators.  The LPSS regulation program helps very much to reduce the the risk of miss applying our technology for the citizens of Virginia.