WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has called for an immediate federal investigation of spiraling gasoline prices in California. In a letter to Comptroller General David M. Walker, Boxer asked the General Accounting Office to investigate news reports that refiners are taking more refineries than usual out of service for “routine maintenance.”

“I am extremely concerned about the rising gasoline prices in the state of California,” Boxer said in the letter, “and I call on you to investigate this situation, particularly with regard to the possible manipulation of supply due to idle refineries.”

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) has introduced divorcement legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that he said is intended to increase competition in the gasoline industry. The Wholesale Motor Fuel Fairness & Competition Restoration Act targets several key factors that have been identified by industry experts as contributing to spikes in gasoline prices, he claimed in a press statement.

The legislation would force refiners to stop discrimination against independent stations and halt what Thompson said is the practice of manipulating prices by zones to keep pump prices high or undercut competitors.