Last week the Environmental Protection Agency denied Texas governor Rick Perry’s request to cut in half the federal mandate for ethanol.
Perry made the request in an effort to protect his state’s livestock industry, which has struggled with increased feed prices, as more and more of the nation’s corn supply is being used to make ethanol.
The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, which was revised last December, calls for the prodution of 9 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol this year and about 11 billion gallons next year.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said his agency found that the Renewable Fuel Standard was not responsible for the increased feed prices, and that the increased prices were not resulting in "severe harm" to the economy.
Read the full AP report.