(WASHINGTON D.C.) — The Environmental Protection Agency continues to work on numerous issues that directly and indirectly affect farmers and ranchers across the country. Top of mind are things such as Waters of the United States (WOTUS), the Renewable Fuels Standard, pesticides and more.
EPA Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi joined Agriculture of America on Wednesday to discuss a number of topics and provide some perspective and updates for farmers and ranchers. That started with a recap of the the latest news on WOTUS.
“We had a big announcement last week, a new proposed definition of Waters of the United States, which of course governs the scope of the Clean Water Act and essentially determines whether folks need a permit to conduct work on surface water,” according to Fotouhi. “And so I think for farmers and ranchers, we’ve heard over the last few months that we needed to provide additional clarity and certainty about this rule. We are operating in a scenario where the Biden administration frankly made things worse. They issued a definition in 2023 that increased the amount of confusion, not just for farmers and ranchers, but for small business owners and home builders and others across the country who just want to know, do they or don’t they need a permit for undertaking work on their property? So we’ve issued a proposed definition that we think is fully consistent with the Supreme Court’s recent decision on this matter and other legal precedents that we took into consideration.”
In regards to questions surrounding the Renewable Fuels Standard, EPA’s Deputy Administrator emphasized the need to take the time to get any guidance or rules done correctly.
“We totally understand how critical the RFS is to farmers across the country. And it’s something that from day one, the administrator has been laser-focused on getting right and coming up with durable decisions about,” according to Fotouhi. “We found significant backlogs in this program when we arrived here in this new administration. The last administration was late in getting out its proposed volumes. It was also very delayed in considering some of the small refinery exemptions that had been submitted to EPA.”
He added that “we’re making great progress on the SREs and the renewable volume obligations. We understand that it’s really important and incumbent on us to get that done in a timely manner and in a durable manner as well so that folks can have certainty about what the standards will be moving forward. So I don’t have specific timing to share with you today, but we’ve made significant progress.”
You can hear the full conversation with EPA Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi on the Wednesday, November 26th, 2025 episode of Agriculture of America below. The interview starts at the 22:20 mark of the podcast:
