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Wisconsin Ag News Headlines
Feingold Working to Prevent Energy Market Manipulation in Farm Bill
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 05/07/2008

As American consumers face soaring gas and energy prices, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold says new legislation providing oversight of energy markets will be included in the final Farm Bill. The Middleton Democrat pushed for the provision as part of a bipartisan effort to ensure federal oversight of the electronic trading of oil and gas. He says the initiative closes a loophole that has allowed oil and gas traders to make electronic energy trades without federal oversight, which has led to market manipulation and speculation.

"It is past time to prevent market manipulation by energy traders," Feingold said. "Energy market speculation has a lot to do with the price of gas and Congress must act immediately to close a loophole to ensure there is proper oversight of energy trading. We can not allow energy traders to secretively bid up the price of oil and saddle Americans with the price at the gas pump."

Since 2003, Feingold has worked to close the 'Enron loophole' that has been exploited by energy traders operating in an unregulated market. He has also been a cosponsor of the Oil and Gas Traders Oversight Act, that has now been incorporated into the Farm Bill. The provision in the Farm Bill will prevent market manipulation by requiring large trades to be reported and publishing price and trading volume of energy on a daily basis. The provision will also monitor trading, limit the size of trader positions, and establish an audit trail by collecting records of trading activity.

"If this energy loophole is not fixed we will not be able to determine if American consumers are paying a fair price for energy," Feingold said.


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