For the first time since the Renewable Fuels Standard went into effect, the Environmental Protection Agency has lowered the amount of ethanol that must be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply from what Congress mandated nearly a decade ago.

The EPA’s final RFS rule released today calls for 18.11 billion gallons of biofuels (corn-based ethanol, biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol) be blended into the nation’s fuel supply. This is well below the 22.3 billion gallons mandated by Congress in 2007.

The final rule places the target for corn-based ethanol at 14.5 gallons which is 500 million gallons below the Congressional mandate. The final ethanol numbers are higher than what the EPA had earlier proposed.