EPA Rejects Requests to Ease U.S. Corn-Based Ethanol Mandate
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Federal regulators rejected a request from the governors of eight U.S. states to waive requirements for blending corn-based ethanol into gasoline, a mandate they said was driving up food costs during the worst drought in a half century.
In an e-mailed statement today, the Environmental Protection Agency said it had found no evidence of “severe economic harm,” a determination needed to support granting the waiver. The governors of Arkansas, North Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, Virginia, New Mexico and Texas made the request. The group included four Democrats and four Republicans.