Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has sent a second letter to Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, asking for an immediate investigation into soaring gas prices, according to her office.

“California commuters are facing the highest gas prices and the longest commutes in the country,” Feinstein wrote in a news release. “Paying hundreds of dollars to fill your tank every time you go to the pump is untenable, particularly because it does not appear the price spike and supply disruption are related to supply and demand.”

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline today again rose to a record high in Los Angeles County. But according to the Automobile Club of Southern California, the increase of seven-tenths of a cent to $4.703 may indicate that prices will soon fall.

The increase was the smallest during a six-day span that has seen the price rise 50.2 cents, including 3.5 cents on Sunday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The average price is 51.9 cents more than one week ago, 52.5 cents higher than one month ago and 89.2 cents greater than one year ago, according to City News Service. In Claremont, the chepeast gas prices listed by Gasbuddy.com are lingering around $4.59. In La Verne, it's even higher, listed at $4.62 and above.

Gov. Jerry Brown's order Sunday directing the California Air Resources Board to immediately allow oil refineries to make an early transition to winter- blend gasoline, which isn't typically sold until Nov. 1, and the resumption of operations at the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery are expected to add to the supply of gasoline.

The record prices are the result of whole markets going "into a panic about the adequacy of California fuel supplies" following a power failure last Monday at ExxonMobil's Torrance refinery and closure of a Chevron pipeline that moves crude oil to Northern California, said Jeffrey Spring of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Other contributing factors include local refiners dropping production levels, exporting supply to Mexico and other countries and allowing inventory to dwindle in anticipation of switching over to production of winter blend gasoline, Spring said.