Federal regulators finalized a rule Wednesday that raises the amount of ethanol refineries must blend into the nation’s gasoline supply, providing a boost to ethanol companies and drawing criticism from an oil industry that opposes higher levels. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final regulation, first proposed in May , requiring refineries to blend 19.28 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol and other biofuels into the gasoline supply in 2017. That amounts to 1.17 billion gallons more than the requirement for this year, which was 18.11 billion gallons , but it is far less than the 24 billion gallons envisioned by a 2007 law. The EPA is using a waiver in that law allowing the agency to set lower amounts for a variety of reasons, including slower-than-expected development of certain kinds of non-corn biofuels. The […]