HARTFORD, Conn. -- With oil prices seeming to set a new record every day, Rep. John Larson, D-1st Congressional District, said speculators and investors are to blame.

But he said he has an idea. If they want to bid for oil, he said, they need to take it.

“You must be in receipt of the product if you're going to invest in it,” he said. “You must take delivery.”

Larson is proposing a bill that would add an inspector general position to oversee commodity futures trading.

He also spoke out against allowing oil companies to drill in more places, like the hotly contested Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. He said oil companies already lease thousands of acres that contain oil, but they aren't drilling.

But a representative of big oil told Channel 3 Eyewitness News that he’s not sure speculators are driving up prices. Plus, he said, they wish they could drill on all the lands where they have leases.

“It's unusable land,” said Steven Guveyan, with the Connecticut Petroleum Council. “There's a moratorium. You can't drill there. You can have all the leases you want, but Congress has already said you cannot drill.

“Meanwhile, countries around the world are saying you want us to produce more while you are unwilling to produce it at home,” he said. “It makes no sense.”

As for Larson's plans, he said he hopes to bring them to a Congressional hearing next month.