The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will decide by late summer whether to allow higher levels of ethanol to be blended into standard transportation gasoline, the head of the agency recently reported. The EPA is considering an industry request for a waiver from federal rules to allow gasoline to contain up to 15% ethanol. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency is on track to receive final Energy Department testing results by May. “We expect that once we get that additional data…then EPA will be in a position to move toward the final decision on waiver, late summer is the time period,” Jackson told lawmakers at a recent Senate budget hearing. In December, EPA officials said initial tests showed vehicles made after 2001 probably will be able to use gasoline blended with as much as 15% ethanol.