Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday denied a request from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to cut the federal ethanol mandate in half for a year. Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson spoke to Perry about his waiver request by phone shortly before Johnson announced the agency’s decision publicly Thursday. An energy bill passed in December required 9 billion gallons of ethanol to be blended into gasoline this year and about 11 billion gallons …