The House approved legislation Wednesday that would make gasoline price gouging a federal crime, subjecting companies to as much as $150 million in fines, Bloomberg reported.

The 284-141 vote was the second of two measure the House passed this week in response to record gasoline prices, Bloomberg said.

Lawmakers also approved a measure that would allow the Justice Department to file antitrust lawsuits against OPEC, whose members provide almost half of U.S. oil imports.

President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation, saying the bill could result in gasoline price controls and in some cases bring back long gas lines reminiscent of the 1970s, according to a White House statement.

The average retail gasoline price rose to a record $3.218 a gallon last week, and has risen more than $1 this year.

Crude oil rose to near $66 a barrel Wednesday despite a Department of Energy report that showed fuel inventories rose last week, Bloomberg reported.

The price rise was due to some that U.S. oil refineries will be able to produce enough gasoline to keep up with increasing consumption, Bloomberg reported.

Oil futures rose 26 cents to close at $65.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg said.

Gasoline inventories jumped 1.4 million barrels for the week ended Friday, while oil inventories rose almost 2 million barrels, DOE said in its weekly report released Wednesday.

Distillate inventories, which include diesel, gained 500,000 barrels.

Oil refineries operated at 91.1% of capacity last week, up 1.8% from a week earlier, but below the 93% or better rate normal for this time of year, Bloomberg reported.

Guy Caruso, head of DOE’s Energy Information Administration, told CNBC Wednesday that better refinery utilization and boosting imports could help lower prices this summer.

Gasoline wholesale prices fell 9 cents Tuesday, CNBC said.

Auto and truck parts supplier Commercial Vehicle Group said Wednesday it will close its Seattle manufacturing facility and transfer operations from there by the end of this year.

About 115 jobs will be lost by the closure by year’s end, CVG said.

“This repositioning is designed to improve CVG’s customer service and strengthen the company’s long-term competitive position,” the company said in a statement.

CVG’s Seattle operation produces interior trim products for heavy-duty trucks and marine products for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Work currently performed at the Seattle facility will be distributed to other CVG plants in the United States, the company said.

Covenant Transport said Wednesday its stockholders approved a name change to the truckload carrier’s corporation to Covenant Transportation Group Inc.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Parker said the change “is symbolic of our corporate leadership’s focus on managing all of our operating units as independent businesses.”

Covenant also said that it promoted Joey Hogan to be chief operating officer of Covenant Transportation Group, and the president of Covenant Transport, the renamed holding company’s largest operating unit.

Covenant Transport is ranked No. 37 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

The Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association reiterated its opposition to a plan to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike, saying that a state report was limited in scope.

“Even with the new financial report, Pennsylvania truckers do not believe that the numbers add up for the governor’s turnpike-leasing plan,” PMTA said in a statement.

“The report had a very limited scope and it incorrectly assumes the status quo.”

A poll by the group last month showed that about two-thirds of the state’s voters are against leasing the turnpike, and 60% indicated that leasing the Turnpike was a bad idea.

If the road is privatized, taxpayers “will be left holding the bag for what amounts to a loan — and will be paying either higher personal taxes or higher tolls or both,” PMTA said.

Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said late last year the state was considering leasing the road to private groups.

California has asked U.S. regulators for permission to set its own environmental rules for reducing global warming emissions from passenger vehicles, Bloomberg reported.

The state wants carbon dioxide reductions starting with 2009 models, reaching 18% below current levels by 2020, Bloomberg reported.

With more than 10% of all new vehicle sales in the U.S., California said it needs federal approval by late October to give automakers time to comply.

Eleven other states, including New York, Connecticut and Washington, stand ready to adopt the California standard, Bloomberg reported.

Ceva Logistics said Monday it has made a new offer to buy EGL Inc., raising its per-share offer to $47.50 a share, or about $2 billion total.

Ceva has been in a bidding war with a rival group of investors led by EGL Chief Executive Officer James Crane.

Last week, EGL said Ceva’s previous offer of $46 was “superior” to the Crane group’s previous $45 offer.

If the transaction is completed, Ceva said it intends to retain EGL’s headquarters in Houston and to use EGL’s operations as a complementary base to expand CEVA’s scale and product offerings globally.

Ceva, the former TNT Logistics, is owned by private-equity firm Apollo Management.

EGL, which operates under the name Eagle Global Logistics, is ranked No. 11 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

Gasoline prices rose another 11 cents in the past two weeks to reach $3.18 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations released Sunday.

The record was the second straight for the twice-monthly survey following the previous $3.07 set two weeks ago.

Gasoline reached a record $3.103 in last week’s Department of Energy weekly filling-station survey and could reach another one Monday afternoon when the new survey is released.

Prices have shot higher as inventory concerns remain about summer driving supplies, Bloomberg reported. The summer driving season will officially begin Friday with the start of Memorial Day weekend.

The nations lowest average pump price was $2.87 in Charleston, S.C., while the highest was $3.59, in Chicago, Lundberg said.