The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a request from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to cut the federal ethanol mandate in half for a year.

A spokeswoman for Perry said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson spoke to Perry about his request by phone shortly before Johnson was to announce the agency’s decision publicly Thursday.

An energy bill passed in December required 9 billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gasoline next year. Perry asked the EPA in April to cut the requirement in half since demand for ethanol is raising corn prices.