NEW ORLEANS: A Congressional subcommittee is calling upon Google Inc. to explain why it was "airbrushing history" by replacing post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery on its popular map portal with images of the region as it existed before the storm destroyed neighborhoods, uprooted trees and dashed bridges.

Swapping the post-Katrina images, which showed the damage that remains more than a year after the storm, for others showing an idyllic city has fueled suspicions among many locals.

Citing an Associated Press report on Thursday, the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight asked Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt to elucidate why his company is using the outdated imagery.

"Google's use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history," wrote Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, the subcommittee chairman, in a Friday letter to Schmidt.