Oklahoma Farm Bureau hosted U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for a roundtable forum with Oklahoma farmers and ranchers to discuss the agency’s work that affects production agriculture Saturday, May 30, at Pfeiffer Angus Farm near Mulhall.
The discussion was moderated by OKFB President Stacy Simunek with more than 60 Farm Bureau members, guests and dignitaries attending.
OKFB members had the chance to ask Zeldin about a variety of topics that impact their day-to-day agricultural operations and rural communities including diesel exhaust fluid regulations, the clean air and clean water acts, right to repair, environmental permitting and more.
Zeldin shared the progress the Trump administration has made in reworking diesel exhaust fluid, or DEF, regulations to help ensure that emissions systems do not shut down or limit farm equipment during critically important times of the growing seasons.
“You can see you are inside of a room filled with men and women who feel very passionately about all the flaws of the diesel exhaust fluid system,” Zeldin said. “And when a tractor goes down in the middle of a harvest, it results in lost time and lost money, great frustration and a lot of these farmers are working to survive – working very hard to survive on extremely low margins.
“We have heard the calls loud and clear from across the country, including right here in Oklahoma. EPA will state it privately, we will state it publicly: it is our full intention, desire, intent to do the maximum amount possible, pursuant to the law.”
Zeldin also told the crowd that an amendment to the farm bill that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives includes language that would re-work diesel exhaust fluid requirements for farm equipment. The bill now awaits action by the U.S. Senate.
“For Administrator Zeldin to come to us and get information right from the core of ag – what an opportunity for both of us,” said OKFB President Stacy Simunek. “It was an opportunity for both agriculture and for the EPA. If you want to get something right, come to the source. And that’s where he was today: at the source.”
The roundtable forum also featured Congressman Frank Lucas, U.S. Sen. Alan Armstrong and EPA Regional Administrator for District Six Scott Mason, each of whom shared comments with the group.
Other special guests in attendance included Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur, Oklahoma DEQ Executive Director Rob Singletary, USDA FSA State Director Eddie Fields, USDA State Rural Development State Director Zach Swartz and Oklahoma Conservation Commission Executive Director Tray Lam.
During his time in Oklahoma, Zeldin also toured EPA cleanup sites in Oklahoma City, met with Gov. Kevin Stitt and Rep. Stephanie Bice, and spoke to a group at the Hamm Institute alongside Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.
