Dianne Feinstein: “yesterday the State of California submitted a filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which provides a…”

“yesterday the State of California submitted a filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which provides a wholesale indictment of energy companies and shows how a number of energy firms engaged in deceptive trading practices to drive up prices in the Western Energy Market. I have called on FERC to make this evidence public and I want to reiterate my request again. I am also introducing a bill with Senators Fitzgerald, Harkin, Lugar, Cantwell, Wyden, and Leahy to close a loophole which allows energy trades to take place electronically, in private, with no transparency, record, audit trail or any oversight to guard against fraud and manipulation. But before I reintroduce this bill, I want to reiterate the important revelations that have been uncovered in the past year and detail what we know about yesterday's filing at FERC. Last week I came to the floor to update the Senate on recent evidence of fraud and manipulation in the energy sector. Today I want to pick up where I left off and introduce the Energy Market Oversight Act. Mr. President, I draw my colleagues' attention to a filing made at FERC. This ``Public Version'' is a 27-page summary of the filing with confidential information removed, but it provides a detailed overview of the fraud and manipulation carried out by energy companies during the Western energy crisis.”