RACINE AND GREEN BAY – While wild gas price fluctuations in recent years have produced anxiety and fury among consumers, many policymakers have been left scratching their heads trying to come up with long-term solutions for keeping fuel costs under control.

But two Wisconsin congressmen believe they may now have a partial remedy to the problem, and spent Wednesday explaining their plan at news conferences in Racine and Green Bay.

“We've been wrestling with the problem of gas price spikes for the past two years,” U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) said.  “We've studied its sources. We've asked the EPA to look at it.  Now that we have the facts, it's time to act.  Real relief from skyrocketing fuel prices depends on simplifying the current system, among other factors, and that's exactly what we intend to do with the plan we are proposing.”

“From the beginning of the gas price crisis, we’ve seen anger, finger-pointing, confusion and even panic,” U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Green Bay) said.  “At the same time, we’ve seen precious few action plans for grabbing this problem by the tail and getting it under control.  That’s what we’re working to do here today.  Our proposal isn’t a cure-all, but we believe it has the real potential to bring more stability and sensibility to our gas prices.”

The pair’s plan, which has now been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, aims to stabilize gas prices by reducing the number of different fuel blends required by government regulations.  Those regulations result in a patchwork of more than 40 “boutique fuels” currently in use across the nation, often creating major supply problems as refiners struggle to produce the wide variety of specialty fuels needed in sufficient quantities.

The plan would clear the way for the number of required blends to be dramatically scaled down. Their hope, they said, is that the proposal would streamline the current system, alleviating supply problems and helping to eliminate severe price spikes.

The legislation includes a flexible renewable fuel mandate to encourage production and development of renewable fuels such as ethanol.

“We can have cheap gas and clean gas at the same time,” Ryan said.  “These goals can and should go together, and our proposal respects both priorities. Wisconsin drivers have been through the wringer in recent years, in part because of overly complex, cobbled-together regulations. We're working to correct this for the future and safeguard our environment at the same time.”

“The current hodgepodge system may make sense in some bureaucrat’s cubicle in Washington, but it sure doesn’t make sense to drivers who have seen their gas prices fluctuate by almost 100 percent in the past few years,” Green said.  “Things are uncertain enough these days without folks having to worry about whether gas prices are going to be back up to almost two bucks a month from now.  By creating a more rational system, our plan will help create more rational prices.”

Ryan and Green began working together on the issue more than two years ago, and last year asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to carry out a study on the effectiveness of reducing the number of fuel blends.  The EPA conducted the study, and in October of last year released findings that Ryan and Green said helped confirm their notion that reducing the number of blends could help ease supply difficulties.

The two promised a “full court press” on the bill when Congress reconvenes later this month.