From: Richard Kahn

From: Richard Kahn To: "jeffrey E." <[email protected]> Cc: ann rodriquez Subject: Palms / Trees Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2017 19:39:32 +0000 puerto rico unsure and need anna / chris to report however i have not yet been presented an invoice for trees chris has tagged.. florida palms were supposed to be picked up from FL farm tomorrow but farm is having issues as they claim we require an import permit i believe that they are incorrect and we hope to have a conversation with Ag inspector later today.. Richard Kahn HBRK Associates Inc. Begin forwarded message: From: Matt McGraw < Subject: Re: Fwd: US Virgin Islands Date: December 5. 2017 at 1:38:51 PM EST To: Daphne Wallace Hello Daphne, , Richard Kahn I'll send you the information my Ag inspector has about the shipment from continental US to the US Virgin Islands. He should be back in his office this afternoon. There are apparently restrictions in place from mainland US that are not in place between Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Island. I'm trying to reach the department of Agriculture contact down in US Virgin Islands but the phone listed below has not yet been restored apparently. We ran into this issue of import permits with the Bahama's a few years back and it just took a little time to overcome. I'll keep working on this from my end as well. We are getting a lot of requests from the Caribbean after IRMA and would like to help with this issue wherever we can. If we can answer the question about whether coconuts are considered "non-native" that would be a big help. Since you are local can you see if there is another number that might be working for the Department of Agriculture? On St. Thomas St. John: EFTA00940686 Department of A riculture Cheers, Matt On Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 12:28 PM, Matt McGraw <I wrote: Hello all, I really need to make a decision on the dig right now. We have a 24 hour re-entry on the insecticide spray and we have to dig this afternoon in order to spray and load on Thursday morning. If we are not 100% sure on the import permit / phyto I would rather we err on the side of caution and postpone digging until we know these won't get stopped at the port. Please let me know as soon as possible. I have several other orders that I can fill if we are going to hold off on your order. The dig schedule is open next week as well. Regards, Matt On Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 9:36 AM, Matt McGraw < > wrote: Hello Daphne, Our Ag inspector has to log in to the US Department of Agriculture website to determine what requirements have been established by the country/state/province etc... we are shipping to. According the the USDA website the US Virgins Island has established a requirement for this import permit that he needs to have before he can do the Phyto. Please take a look at the two attachments from his email. The import permit specifies "non-native organisms" require an import permit. Perhaps the coconuts (Cocos-nucifera) are a native? Please let me know what your customs brokers says. We have the coconuts on the dig schedule for this afternoon. I have asked my crews to hold off digging until we have some more information. Do you want to postpone with Tropical shipping to be on the safe side with the import permits? I'll follow up with a call as well. Matt On Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 9:08 AM, Daphne Wallace <I I> wrote: Greetings Matt, I do not know what an Import Permit is. I will ask our Customs broker in St. Thomas. Is it possible that you can ask for them to elaborate on the Florida side please. EFTA00940687 Kind regards Daphne On Dec 5, 2017 10:01 AM, "Matt McGraw" .< > wrote: Good morning Daphne and Richard, I received this note from our Agricultural inspector this morning. According to his information from the US Virgin Islands he needs an Import Permit to be able to writhe the Phtyo. Is this something you can provide to us for the Phyto? Thank you, Matt Forwarded messa e From: Blaney, Richard Date: Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 8:52 AM Subject: US Virgin Islands To: Matt McGraw Shipping to the US Virgin Islands is doable. The customer, (Importer) needs to get an Import Permit from the Virgin Islands. (see attached.) I cannot write the phyto without the permit. Forward it to me when you get it, and I will proceed from there. Rick Richard Blaney Environmental Specialist 1 Division of Plant Industry Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services EFTA00940688 Please note that Florida has a broad public records law (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes). Most written communications to or from state employees are public records obtainable by the public upon request. Emails sent to me at this email address may be considered public and will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to the laws of the State of Florida. Matt McGraw Customer Service Team PALMCO Matt McGraw Customer Service Team PALMCO EFTA00940689 Matt McGraw Customer Service Team PALMCO Matt McGraw Customer Service Team PALMCO EFTA00940690