Democratic attorneys general in seven states asked the Bush administration Thursday to join them in investigating whether big oil companies are illegally pushing up gasoline prices.
The request from the states comes amid growing pressure from Democrats in Congress and presidential challenger John Kerry for the White House to take action to ease record-high retail gasoline prices.
In a letter to President Bush, the group of chief law enforcement officers asked him to direct U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft "to join with us in investigating whether the oil and gas industries are colluding to drive up the cost of gasoline."
The letter was signed by officials from California, New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Iowa and Arkansas.
The national retail price for gasoline averaged $2.02 a gallon this week, although pump costs in many states are much higher.
"All of our consumers are adversely affected by high gasoline prices," the officials said in their letter. "We intend to use the full measure of our antitrust and consumer fraud jurisdiction to investigate."
The officials also asked for the U.S. State Department's help in obtaining documents and information located overseas that are needed for the states' gasoline price investigations.
Those documents and information primarily relate to foreign oil companies doing business in America and the foreign operations of U.S.-based firms.
The Bush administration had no immediate comment on the request. Earlier this week, a White House spokesman said the administration was monitoring fuel prices to prevent any price-gouging.
Oil companies blame high prices on strong consumer demand, federal environmental regulations that require many gasoline blends, the difficulty in building new refineries and high crude oil prices that account for about half the cost to make gasoline.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has investigated the U.S. oil industry several times over the years but did not find that companies worked together to raise gasoline prices.
It is not illegal under U.S. law for a company to act on its own to restrict supplies or close a refinery that may lead to higher pump prices.
Oil companies are also permitted to practice so-called "zone pricing," where they charge different gasoline prices in a specific location or city, which often result in pump costs being higher at service stations located just blocks apart.