U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt followed up his recent reintroduction of a bill that intends to make the price and supply of specialty fuels more affordable and dependable with several stops Thursday in Southeast Missouri.

Appearances at Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Cape Girardeau gas stations featured Blunt speaking about the proposed Gas Accessibility and Stabilization, or GAS Act. Blunt, along with his Senate co-sponsors, say the GAS Act would "reduce the regulatory burden, which shrinks supply and drives up the cost of fuel for consumers and businesses," by broadening periods where the Environmental Protection Agency can grant a waiver to a community to use whatever fuel they have on hand if there is a disruption. Waivers would receive automatic approval if the EPA does not respond to a community's request for three days. A fuel study that would determine the status of specialty fuel programs and their impact on supply, reliability, and gas prices, also would be part of the bill.

"I think it takes more of the ups and downs out of the system," Blunt said of the bill during the Cape Girardeau stop, at Mercato di Rodi on Mount Auburn Road.

U.S. Sen Roy Blunt speaks about the proposed GAS Act Thursday at Mercato di Rodi in Cape Girardeau.

Blunt and the other bill supporters blame fluctuating fuel prices on the number of specialty fuel blends on the market combined with local air quality requirements for the fuels. Their theory is that specialty fuels complicate the supply chain and often cause unexpected price increases if turning up in short supply.

The study that would be required under the GAS Act, called a "harmonization study," may also help reduce the number of fuel blends on the market and while fuels would still meet standards of the Clean Air Act, Blunt said.

Blunt's prior but unsuccessful attempts at addressing the problems he said he sees with specialty fuels, pricing and supply include sponsoring the Boutique Fuel Reduction Act in 2011 and other legislation on specialty fuel blends when he was a congressman in 2005.

Pushback against the proposed bills has always come from the oil companies, Blunt said, "but it doesn't mean we should give up the fight."

eragan@semissourian.com

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425 S. Mount Auburn Road, Cape Girardeau, MO