Forget gas-burning stoves. The new front in the culture wars could be your portable gas cans.
That is judging by a legislative push by Alabama representative and avowed AR-15 fan Barry Moore, who last month received the coveted endorsement of Donald J. Trump in his run for the U.S. Senate.
His target is the modern portable petroleum canister, which generally has a special anti-spill nozzle and no air vents in order to comply with federal emissions regulations.
These newer, slower-pouring cans have long incensed small-government conservatives, and frustrated some ordinary users. But the issue got a new boost last July when the Trump administration declared that it would “Make Gas Cans Great Again by Improving Flow.”
“For years, farmers, construction crews, small businesses, and homeowners have been forced to use government-mandated, slow-pour, spill-prone gas cans that break easily and make simple tasks harder,” Moore wrote last month in a press release introducing his new ‘Freedom to Fuel Act’, which would exempt “portable fuel containers” from EPA regulations.
“The Freedom to Fuel Act is one more step toward eliminating outdated rules and bringing policy that makes the American people’s lives easier back to Washington.”
At issue is a 2007 decision by the EPA requiring manufacturers to limit the amount of extra gasoline that could leak from portable containers each day, either by spillage or by evaporation.
The reason, according to the non-profit outlet Inside Climate News, was simple: gas cans were a substantial source of toxic gas and pollutant emissions and reducing them would help protect Americans’ health.
“Gasoline fuels are highly volatile and evaporate easily from containers that are not sealed or closed properly,” the EPA wrote in a 2007 report [PDF].
“Although an individual gas can is a relatively modest emission source, the cumulative [toxic gas] emissions from an estimated population of 80 million gas cans are quite significant.”
It estimated that gas cans were responsible for roughly 327,000 tons of hydrocarbon emissions, with a “substantial portion” due to owners leaving their gas cans open.
Some Republicans are also trying to repeal the Children’s Gasoline Burn Prevention Act, passed in 2008, with bipartisan support in order to prevent children from dying or being injured by fires or fume inhalation caused by open gas cans.
Barry Moore has represented Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2021 and is now running for the Senate.
“Barry Moore is a good friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next United States Senator from Alabama — BARRY WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” wrote Trump on Truth Social last month.
