EPA Rejects Texas Effort To Loosen Ethanol Rules
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LUBBOCK, Texas — The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a request from Texas to cut the federal ethanol mandate in half for a year in hopes of bringing down corn prices.
A spokeswoman for Governor Perry, Allison Castle, says the EPA Administrator, Stephen Johnson, spoke to Mr. Perry about his waiver request by phone today. Mr. Johnson is to announce the agency’s decision publicly later in the day.
An energy bill passed in December requires that 9 billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gasoline, from next month through August 31 of next year. Mr. Perry asked the EPA in April to drop the requirement to 4.5 billion gallons, saying demand for ethanol is raising corn prices for livestock producers and driving up food prices for people, too.
