The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency denied Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s request to reduce the federal Renewable Fuels Standard Thursday.

EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson stated that the Renewable Fuels Standard waiver request, which had been submitted by Perry, did not meet the required criteria for approval under federal law. “The RFS remains an important tool in our ongoing efforts to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign oil, in aggressive yet practical ways,” said Johnson.

(Source: Department of Energy)

(Source: Department of Energy)

The EPA’s action on Thursday will effectively maintain the current mandated level of renewable fuels usage at 9 billion gallons. That level will increase to approximately 11 billion gallons in 2009.

A news release announcing the denial of the waiver request states that “extensive analysis of Texas’ waiver request found no compelling evidence that the RFS mandate is causing severe economic harm during the time period specified by Texas.”

Federal law authorizes the EPA to alter the Renewable Fuels Standard if the agency finds that the standard is causing “severe harm” to the economy or environment.

Both of Iowa’s U.S. senators applauded the EPA’s decision Thursday. Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat who serves as the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, commended the EPA for denying the waiver. “Renewable biofuels are one of the most important tools we have to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Harkin said in a statement. “EPA’s decision to deny this waiver today indicates that we are going to stay the course in pursuing a national strategy of increasing production and use of domestic, renewable biofuels.”

Iowa’s other senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, released a statement calling the decision a “victory for clean energy, rural America, and national security, and a blow to those who have used ethanol as a scapegoat for rising fuel and food prices.”

A number of major food manufacturing organizations had been pushing for the EPA to approve the waiver request. The American Meat Institute, for example, had claimed that the biofuel mandate had caused hardship because of rising prices of livestock feed.

Following the EPA announcement Thursday, American Meat Institute president J. Patrick Boyle stated that “using a third of our corn crop for ethanol production has driven corn and all feed prices up to levels that are severely impacting U.S. meat and poultry producers as well as consumers.”

In a press release on the AMI website, Boyle noted that the tripling of corn prices has done severe economic harm to the meat and poultry industry.  “The meat and poultry industry has already seen a contraction in production, resulting in smaller herd sizes and higher meat prices for consumers,” said Boyle.