Governor wants ethanol waiver

Rick Perry has asked federal regulators to relax rules requiring use of corn-based ethanol in the nation's fuel supply, arguing the mandate is driving up world food prices and harming the Texas economy.

In a letter sent Friday to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Perry asked the Bush administration to waive 50 percent of the federal mandate for production of ethanol derived from grain.

In pushing for the waiver, Perry injected himself into an ongoing debate over corn-based ethanol, an argument that touches on energy and environmental policy and affects numerous special interests.

Federal law requires that the nation use 9 billion gallons of renewable fuels this year and 11 billion gallons in 2009.

Ethanol is blended into more than half the gasoline sold in the United States, including in Houston and other cities struggling with the worst air-quality problems.

While the push for greater use of renewable sources may have been "well intentioned policy," the measure has "had the unintentional consequence of harming segments of our agriculture industry and contributing to higher food prices," Perry wrote in his letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

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