Maria Cantwell: “I will support the Senate moving forward on the confirmation of Jon Wellinghoff and Joe Kelliher to be members of the…”

“I will support the Senate moving forward on the confirmation of Jon Wellinghoff and Joe Kelliher to be members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. While I am pleased that FERC has been using its expanded authority granted by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to pursue manipulation in the electricity and natural gas markets, I think it is critically important to remind FERC of its statutory duty to oversee the energy markets and protect consumers. In light of evidence of market manipulation in the Western electricity crisis in 2001, I fought hard to ban market manipulation in electricity and natural gas markets. My amendment, adopted by Congress as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, provided FERC new authority under the Federal Power Act and Natural Gas Act to investigate and punish market manipulation in electricity and natural gas markets. I am pleased to see that FERC has used this expanded authority to conduct 64 investigations. According to FERC, 13 of these investigations have resulted in settlements involving the payment of civil penalties or other monetary remedies totaling over $40 million. Two investigations have resulted in FERC bringing enforcement actions for alleged market manipulation against Amaranth Advisors LLC for $291 million in civil penalties and Energy Trading Partners for $167 million in civil penalties. Amaranth's shenanigans cost consumers upwards of $9 billion dollars during the summer of 2006.”