The U.S. EPA on Nov. 16 announced that it has denied a waiver of the regulation requiring the production of renewable fuels. The governors of several states, as well as other parties, had petitioned the EPA to waive renewable fuel volume requirements for 2012 and 2013 because of concerns about the effects of drought on corn production and prices. In researching the request, EPA found that the body of evidence suggests there would be no impact on corn prices if the waiver were granted. Even if there were an impact, it would be very small and fall short of the "severe harm" waiver threshold set out in the Renewable Fuels Standard. That standard calls for the production of increasingly greater amounts of renewable fuels annually over the years 2008 through 2022. The required amount of ethanol or ethanol-equivalent renewable fuel for 2012 is 15.2 billion gal (57.6 billion L) and for 2013 it is 16.55 billion gal (62.6 billion L). The target for 2022 is 36.0 billion gal (136.3 billion L).