President Biden requested the Federal Commerce Fee Wednesday to look into whether or not ​oil and gasoline corporations are partaking in “unlawful conduct” to take care of excessive costs on the pump.

In a annoyed letter to FTC Chair ​Lina Khan, the president prompt that there’s “mounting proof of anti-consumer habits by oil-and-gas corporations.”

“The underside line is that this: gasoline costs on the pump stay excessive, though oil and gasoline corporations’ prices are declining,” Biden wrote. “The Federal Commerce Fee has authority to contemplate whether or not unlawful conduct is costing households on the pump. I imagine you must achieve this instantly.”

Biden made the request days earlier than thousands and thousands of People are anticipated to hit the highway for the Thanksgiving vacation. In accordance with AAA, the nationwide common worth for a gallon of normal gasoline stood at $3.41 Wednesday, up 10 cents from final month and up $1.29 from the identical date a 12 months in the past.

“Normally, costs on the pump correspond to actions within the worth of unfinished gasoline, which is the principle ingredient within the gasoline folks purchase on the gasoline station,” Biden wrote. “However within the final month, the value of unfinished gasoline is down greater than 5 % whereas gasoline costs on the pump are up 3 % in the identical interval.”

“​In the meantime, the most important oil-and-gas corporations in America are producing important income off increased vitality costs​,” the president added.

Biden concluded the letter by imploring Khan to “deliver all of the Fee’s instruments to bear when you uncover any wrongdoing.”

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gasoline business’s important lobbying group, referred to as Biden’s request a “distraction from the basic market shift that’s happening and the ill-advised authorities selections which are exacerbating this difficult scenario.”

“Quite than launching investigations on markets which are regulated and carefully monitored every day or pleading with OPEC to extend provide, we needs to be encouraging the secure and accountable improvement of American-made oil and pure gasoline,” ​added Frank Macchiarola, API’s senior vp of coverage, economics and regulatory affairs.

Together with hovering gasoline costs, the Biden administration is struggling to include inflation, which hit a three-decade excessive final month, as companies are hobbled by a provide chain bottleneck and a nationwide labor scarcity.​

Biden has beforehand requested OPEC to ramp up manufacturing to assist decrease the costs of gasoline, however the cartel turned him down.

Throughout a CNN city corridor final month, the president acknowledged that “I don’t have a near-term reply” for the issue earlier than predicting a “dramatic drop … by way of gasoline costs as we go into the following two or three years.”

Earlier this month, a bunch of Democratic senators despatched the president a letter asking him to faucet into the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to alleviate the sky-high costs. 

The administration additionally has taken warmth for contemplating shutting down the L5 pipeline that runs between Canada and Michigan due to environmental considerations.