It shouldn't be a surprise that gas prices are already over $3 a gallon in some areas of Oregon. They are heading higher with no end in sight. It's been clear that for years that oil companies, the OPEC cartel, and financial speculators are fixing prices, manipulating the market and gouging consumers at will.

Yet, the president is shocked that such behavior is going on. Until recently, he and other former oil executives in his administration insisted that high prices were the result of supply and demand. That's what they said about the Western electricity crisis in 2001 when prices spiked up to 100 times their normal levels, even after evidence of manipulation by Enron and others came to light. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.

There is no free market in oil and gas. The OPEC cartel and the growing concentration of power in the oil industry have strangled competition. Mergers have turned 34 major oil companies into 13, and fifteen refining companies into seven. Four companies control 74 percent of the gasoline market in Oregon.

The lack of real competition means that companies can more easily manipulate supply and price. The president blames environmentalists for our limited refining capacity. In reality, internal oil company memos prove it was the companies themselves who shut down 50 refineries over the last 15 years with a plan to squeeze supply and drive up prices. Their plan worked. The refiners' share of each gallon of gas has gone from 27 cents in 2004 to 99 cents in 2005. The industry is in no hurry to build more refineries since more capacity means lower prices and profits.

With consumer outrage growing, the president was forced to act. But, his solution - to investigate the local station owner - will not bring relief to consumers. Instead, the government needs to go after those who are truly responsible: the hugely profitable oil companies, the OPEC cartel, and speculators.

Gas prices are up 20 percent from this time last year, 50 percent from two years ago, and they're double the price they were when President Bush took office. Crude oil prices have doubled over just the last two years.

Not surprisingly, oil company profits have followed suit. In 2005, Exxon Mobil reported the highest annual profit ever for a U.S. company, $36 billion, up 43 percent from the year before. That's about $100 million a day. Exxon's CEO just retired with a $400 million compensation package.

Despite the record profits, the president and his allies in Congress have approved tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies for oil companies, ignored supply and market manipulation by OPEC, and refused to regulate speculators and gougers.

Some argue there is nothing Congress or the president can do to bring down prices in the short term. They are wrong. Congress should:

- Subject all oil trading to the same regulation as other commodities. Seventy-five percent of the oil supply is traded off the books. Speculators and oil companies secretly buy and sell contracts repeatedly to drive up the price and create profits. Commodity experts say regulation of these markets could lower prices as much as 25 percent.

- Impose a windfall profits tax on oil producers and refiners, except on money that is invested in expanding refinery capacity or drilling for oil. The revenue from the tax should be used to invest in alternative sources of energy.

- Pass legislation to make all gouging of consumers a federal crime. Currently, gouging is only illegal if there's collusion between two or more entities, which is notoriously hard to prove.

- Force the administration to take action to break up the OPEC cartel by filing a complaint at the World Trade Organization. OPEC's quotas that artificially limit oil production violate global trade rules.

- Foster actual competition in the oil industry by imposing a merger moratorium and subjecting the industry to anti-trust investigations.

We need long-term solutions as well. I am a cosponsor of bipartisan legislation, H.R. 4409, which would significantly reduce our reliance on oil. The bill would require a reduction in U.S. oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels a day within 10 years. That would be accomplished by expanding federal research into alternative fuels, providing incentives for American automakers to speed commercialization of more efficient and alternative fuel vehicles, providing farmers with support to grow crops for use as fuel, increasing support for public transit, increasing the number of flexible fuel vehicles on the road, and increasing tax incentives for consumers who purchase fuel efficient vehicles.