WASHINGTON - In May, U.S. Reps. Paul Ryan and Mark Green introduced legislation ordering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to look into the feasibility of reducing the number of fuel blends across America - a policy change both men said could reduce the possibility of gas price spikes seen over recent years.

On Wednesday, EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman released the results of an EPA study on the fuel blends issue - results both Green and Ryan said offered proof that their ideas regarding gasoline blends were correct.

“We’ve been saying for a long time that the sheer number of so-called ‘boutique fuels’ is a big part of the gas price problems we’ve been forced to live with in Wisconsin,” Green said.  “This report proves our point, and shows that the government needs to change the way it deals with gasoline blends.  Clearly, we need to get the number of fuel blends under control to reduce our supply problems and, ultimately, keep gas prices down.”

Ryan said: “The EPA’s findings support our view that decreasing the number of different required fuel blends should help stabilize gas prices over the long term. This is an issue of relaxing tight supply to avoid sudden shortages and resulting price spikes. This report supports our argument that we can have clean air and affordable gas at the same time. I look forward to working more with the EPA and my colleagues on this issue in the coming weeks.”

Ryan and Green also said they would examine the report more closely over coming days and would take the legislative and administrative actions necessary to reduce the number of gasoline blends.

Information on the report is available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels.htm.