EPA may need more time on raising ethanol blend

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may not meet a December 1 deadline to decide whether to approve an industry request to boost the amount of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Reuters on Monday.

Growth Energy and 54 ethanol manufacturers petitioned the EPA last March to allow gasoline to contain up to 15 percent ethanol by volume, known as E15. U.S. gasoline is now approved to contain up to 10 percent of ethanol, which in the United States is made mostly from corn.

But the head of the EPA said the agency may have to work past the December 1 deadline because it is still reviewing test results on how the higher blend rate would affect engines "across the board," -- including cars, trucks, snow mobiles, motor boats and lawnmowers.

(Reporting by Tom Doggett)