WASHINGTON, DC -- In an effort to curb record-high oil and gas prices and bring a measure of relief to Rhode Islanders and Americans across the country, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and 50 of his colleagues sent a letter to President Bush urging him to stop driving up the cost of oil by taking it off the market and storing it in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil and is currently 97 percent full. According to the Department of Energy, the United States already exceeds its International Energy Program commitments to maintain at least 90 days of oil stocks in reserve.

"Today, it costs more than double to fill up the family car than it did just seven years ago when President Bush took office," said Reed. "High fuel prices affect individual consumers and businesses alike. The Administration should take immediate action to help families and businesses with the rising cost of gas and get our economy back on track."

In Rhode Island, gas currently costs $3.19 a gallon compared to March 2001 when the average price was $1.47. The price of crude oil is roughly $109 a barrel today and the national average price of a gallon of gas has risen to $3.22. One year ago, oil was trading at $60.05 per barrel, and the average retail price of gasoline was $2.53 per gallon.

"The Administration's policy of taking oil off the market and putting it underground in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a contributing factor to current high energy prices. It makes no sense to store oil underground when oil is trading at record prices," wrote the senators.

The federally-owned oil stocks are stored in huge underground salt caverns along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico.