CHICAGO--June 23 CBS Despite overall higher gasoline prices, many motorists can still afford to keep their travel plans.

CBS You might call it a "sign" of relief when you notice declining numbers on the posted price of gasoline in the Chicago area.

It's especially important to motorists in the area, since a recent spike in prices left them grumbling over prices that were well over $2 a gallon and the highest in the nation.

CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports retail prices in the Chicago area have dropped nearly twenty cents a gallon from $2.36 to $2.17 in just two days.

However, you don't see posted figures detailing what the wholesale price is doing. For the record, it has plunged in the Chicago area over the last ten days. It went from $1.60 a gallon to $1.07, according to Ben Brockwell, editor of the widely followed Oil Price Information Service.

"There's no doubt that political pressure and media attention have speeded up the process toward lower prices," Brockwell said. He said it usually takes two to four weeks for such a drop to register at the retail level.

And while the recent rapid decline in the wholesale price might heighten suspicions that some oil companies may have been fixing prices, David Sykuta of the Illinois Petroleum Association says it's all about markets, not manipulation.

"We've had tight supplies," said Sykuta. "We've had pipeline breaks; I think you've seen the market react. Supply is getting better, pipeline breaks are being fixedthe market works, the prices are coming down."

The industry also points to the Environmental Protection Agency's clean air regulations that require the production of as many as 40 different blends of gas across the country as one of the factors that raised prices.

The president questions those explanations, and the Federal Trade Commission is investigating.

Meanwhile on the markets, crude oil speculation is up, trading Friday above $32 a barrel, which is even higher than it was before OPEC agreed to boost production earlier this week.

So, while it's hard to figure all of this out, it would appear to suggest that gas prices might not keep dropping the way they have been this week.

But while drivers are disgruntled about the higher gasoline prices, they also appear undeterred. Despite the $2 cost of gas, the American Automobile Association predicts Fourth of July holiday travel will break all records.

"We expect about 37.4 million people to travel," said Norma Cooper of the Chicago Motor Club. "It's the highest number we've had in 14 years."

And that's because it's still affordable.

Consider this: A family taking a minivan that gets 25 miles a gallon on a 2,500 mile trip from Chicago to Orlando this summer will pay only about $60 more for gas than they did last year, a lot less than the tickets to get into the theme parks.

Chicago isn't the only area to notice the recent decline in prices. Gas stations in southwestern Illinois, near St. Louis, also cut pricesin some cases as much as 13 cents to $1.62 a gallon.

That's after gas prices had climbed to well over $2 per gallon in the Midwest and to record levels in other parts of the country as well. The price of self-serve regular gas nationwide reached an average $1.68 a gallon, nearly 44 percent higher than last summer's average.

Wednesday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to up production by 708,000 barrels per day. The new quotas take effect July 1. But analysts have said the hike is too little to have much effect on prices, given the depleted world stock.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, said she will introduce legislation to prevent future gas price increases and heating oil shortages by creating an early warning system.

And on Thursday, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley ordered the city Department of Consumer Services to begin closely monitoring gasoline prices in Chicago and asked Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate allegations of price gouging.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 23, 2000