WASHINGTON – First District Congressman Paul Ryan and other members of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation today met with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Administrator Christine Todd Whitman – to discuss recurring gasoline price increases in Wisconsin. At the meeting, the lawmakers talked about Wisconsin's critically tight fuel supply as well as issues related to reformulated gas blend requirements.

Last month, Ryan introduced legislation with Rep. Mark Green to direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study the feasibility of reducing the number of "boutique fuels" in the Midwest and across the nation and report back to Congress within four months. Today Administrator Whitman thanked the congressmen for that legislation and said that the EPA will in fact begin its study about the possibility of reducing the number of boutique fuels and that the agency hopes to finish the study in October.

"Going into today's meeting, I had a couple of key concerns," Ryan said. "First, I wanted to make sure the Administration can offer flexibility if there is another supply emergency in our area, such as a refinery breakdown or pipeline disruption. Second, we need to put together a plan to cut down on the number of 'boutique fuels' in the Midwest so we can ease the tight supply of gas and therefore keep prices low."

"Wisconsinites should not have to grapple with gas price spikes every spring," Ryan said.  "At the same time, we shouldn't have to make a trade off between cheap gas and clean air. Reducing the number of different required fuels and using one clean-burning fuel throughout our region could be one solution to help ease supply shortages. I'm pleased we were able to discuss this and other issues with Administrator Whitman today. The EPA needs to move forward quickly on this issue, in order to make a positive difference next year, and Administrator Whitman seemed committed to doing this."