Who’s to blame for high gas prices?

Politicians propose legislation that would increase regulatory scrutiny of Big Oil — but fail to mention that voters could maybe give up the giant SUVs.

LONDON – Spring is not even a month old but it’s already promising to be a long hot summer for American drivers. Gasoline prices are surging toward highs not seen since the wake of Hurricane Katrina last fall – the national average now stands at $2.68 a gallon – and some experts are predicting $3.00 a gallon before long.

Consumers aren’t the only ones feeling the heat, though – on Capitol Hill, politicians are scrambling to head off the anger of constituents furious about having to spend $50 each time they fuel up their Honda Accord or Ford Taurus and roughly double that to fill the tank of a maxi-SUV.

Last week, Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl and Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter proposed legislation that would increase regulatory scrutiny of Big Oil, which Kohl says “has unquestionably enriched itself during this period of high prices.”

Taking on Big Oil six months before November’s election is a can’t miss proposition for politicians, of course. Besides calling on the federal government to make OPEC liable under U.S. anti-trust laws, Kohl’s Oil and Gas Industry Antitrust Act of 2006 would mandate the creation of a joint state-federal task force to investigate whether producers, refiners and marketers are sharing information in a bid to keep prices high. It would also ask the DOJ and the FTC to examine the consequences of the mega-mergers that have transformed the industry in recent years.

Fortune