EPA Agriculture Focused This Week

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has had a busy week impacting the ag community.  First he sent a delay of the WOTUS rule notice to the Administration.  In addition he told a Senate panel the EPA will decide soon, whether to expand its waiver authority for year-round use of 15-percent ethanol blends of gasoline.  Summertime evaporation requirements now limit so-called “Reid Vapor Pressure,” or RVP.

“It’s not really a policy issue, it’s really a determination about the legal authority on whether it can be granted nationally or not," Pruitt said.  "It’s my understanding that Senator [Deb] Fischer has some proposed legislation on the issues.  The process internally to determine the legal authority continues.  I’m hopeful we’ll have a conclusion on that soon.”

How soon, Pruitt couldn’t say, but Iowa Senator Joni Ernst urged Pruitt to act quickly.

“That will be very important to us as we move through a lot of discussions, between the consumers between those that are producing E15 and of course those in the Administration, so we look forward to having that answer very soon.”

Pruitt told the Senate Environment Committee that the WOTUS replacement should be out in April or May and finalized by year’s end.