The Environmental Protection Agency has denied requests from several governors, including Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, to waive production requirements for corn-based ethanol.A renewable fuels law requires that 13.2 billion gallons of ethanol be produced by this year and 15 billion gallons be produced by 2015. That’s good for corn farmers, but it has angered poultry, hog and cattle farmers who say they’ve seen big jumps in corn-based feed costs as the crop is diverted to make fuel.Deal, whose home county of Hall is the epicenter of Georgia’s poultry industry, wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in August.“In addition to the direct economic damage from drought within the border of our state, Georgia is heavily dependent on grain produced in other states to support its poultry and livestock industries,” Deal wrote.States requesting the waiver say reduced corn production due to this year’s drought — which ravaged corn-producing Midwestern state — has made the problem even worse.Emory Forrester, director of feed milling and feed delivery for Baldwin-based poultry processor Fieldale Farms, in an earlier interview said 98 percent the corn it uses comes from the Midwest.Chicken feed is composed of 60 percent corn, 20 percent soy and 20 percent other ingredients, such as minerals, Forrester said.Governors of North Carolina, New Mexico, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Utah, and Wyoming also asked for the waiver, along with members of Congress and a coalition of farm groups and other industries that have opposed increased ethanol production.Abit Massey, president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation, said he was “disappointed and sorry to hear” that the waiver was denied.