William Fay, president of the National Assn. of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO), blasted an appeal by American Trucking Assns. president & CEO Bill Graves to each state's attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission to watch out for fuel price gouging.

"It is sad that the trucking industry has decided to ignore the geopolitical factors that have sent crude oil prices skyrocketing and instead point fingers at a trucking community partner, America's truckstops," said Fay in a letter to Graves and all 50 state attorney generals.

"Throughout the decades, crude oil prices go up and diesel prices go up. Then the price of crude goes down and diesel prices go down," Fay said. "Although we never hear mea culpas after prices go down, users are unfortunately wont to seek out scapegoats when prices shoot up."

He noted factors well beyond the control of truckstops and other fuel retailers are responsible for diesel prices averaging over $1.75 per gallon across the United States, hitting close to $2 a gallon in parts of the Northeast.

In particular, Fay pointed to crude oil prices, which are hovering at a two-year high of over $36 a barrel – double the $18 per barrel price from just one year ago. The price has skyrocketed as supplies have tightened, largely due to the possibility of war with Iraq and a more than two-month long strike by Venezuela's oil industry.

Venezuela, the world's fourth largest oil producer, supplied the U.S. with 14% of its oil imports. To date, Venezuela's daily oil production of over 3 million barrels has dwindled to just over 500,000 barrels a day.