Reuters: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will deny Texas’ request to cut the federal ethanol mandate on Thursday, a government official with knowledge of matter said on Wednesday. The government official asked not to be identified. Texas Governor Rick Perry asked EPA in April to reduce the renewable mandate requiring 9 billion gallons of ethanol and other renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline by 50 percent in 2008. Perry said the mandate is pushing up the price of corn, …