WASHINGTON – Four lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, urged the Department of Energy to temporarily stop filling the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, the senators said that with oil prices reaching $100 a barrel, the government shouldn’t take oil off the market when additional supplies could ease prices.

The letter also was signed by Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, and Carl Levin, D-Mich.

“DOE has not presented any compelling national security justification for buying oil at this time, and its actions certainly appear to be contrary to the Levin-Collins provisions of the 2005 Energy Act,” Collins said in a statement this week.

Energy Department spokeswoman Megan Barnett said the amount of oil going into the reserve is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the daily global oil consumption. The White House said last week it would not release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to drive down prices.

In early November, the reserve contained 694 million barrels of oil. Its capacity is more than 720 million barrels.