Airlines ask Congress to probe fuel prices Associated Press WASHINGTON - U.S. airlines Wednesday asked Congress to review the effect of high oil prices on their industry and whether the government should tap its Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In a letter to Senate and House leaders, the Air Transport Association called for oversight hearings "as soon as possible" on the effect record-high fuel prices is having on the transportation industry. "While the soaring price of fuel is a huge problem for the economy, it is rapidly becoming a catastrophe for the airline industry," according to the letter signed by chief executives of the country's major airlines. "At today's prices, the fuel bill for U.S. airlines will be $6 billion more than it would have been with last year's prices." The airlines ask Congress to consider whether the federal government should stop acquiring oil for its reserve or even start selling some of it to stabilize oil markets. The ATA says federal government aid for airlines and the benefits of industry restructuring since the Sept. 11, 2001 "could be wiped out by the feverish speculation in the oil markets." "While we certainly are not experts about what is driving up the price of oil, it is clear that the cost of production has not changed measurably in a year," the letter reads. "Therefore, somewhere in the distribution process, someone is making extraordinary profits." The industry group said that every air carrier is under intense cost pressures to pay fuel bills, and that means "less capital investment, more debt, fewer jobs and reductions in service." The letter is addressed to Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, and Reps. Don Young, R-Alaska, and James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Roger EWROPS