Groups battle over request from ranchers to ease ethanol rule

Interest groups on both sides of the corn ethanol debate are stepping up their messaging on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that lawmakers have targeted in recent weeks. The groups are battling over the renewable fuel standard (RFS), which requires 15 billion gallons of domestic corn ethanol production by 2022. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), a main corn ethanol lobby, sent a letter Friday to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack praising the Obama administration for sticking by the rule. A collection of livestock interest groups responded by issuing an advisory for a Monday media call to discuss the need for changes to the fuel standards...more