WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 Lawmakers are looking to have a better understanding of the regulation of energy trading, the Senate energy committee chairman has said.
In letters to the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Reuben Jeffrey and Joseph Kelliher, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said more oversight was needed to ensure fairness and transparency in pricing natural gas in particular.
States' ability to adequately regulate the costs passed on to local consumers has comparatively lessened, while FERC's market monitoring and enforcement efforts ... have taken on a heightened significance, Bingaman said. He said the energy committee would need to understand better the role of the two agencies, particularly in light of their expanded authority under the 2005 energy policy act. Bingaman asked both Jeffrey and Kelliher to answer questions regarding their respective agency's role in the commodities market in particular by Feb. 21.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
