We agree that this is incredibly frustrating and we wish there was something we could do about it.
Visa and Mastercard set the limits that the gas station is allowed to hold and then the gas station sets the amount. This limit used to be $100, but with the recent rise of global fossil fuel prices, they've increased the limit to $175.
In order to not have this hold placed on your Atmos debit card at a gas station, you'll either need to withdraw cash from an ATM and pay that way, or check to see if they don't charge the same hold fee inside at the Clerk's terminal.