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Upton & Pallone Request Briefing from Commodity Commission

June 24, 2016

WASHINGTON, DC – House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today sent a letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) requesting a briefing on a current proposal before the commission.

The members are concerned that the CFTC’s proposal could have a negative impact on wholesale electricity markets and would “allow private rights of action to enforce certain violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) over electricity-related products and instruments traded in electricity markets administered by Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators (RTO/ISO).”

Given the committee’s jurisdiction over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and that FERC is the primary federal regulator of electricity transactions and oversees RTO/ISO markets, the members continued, “We are concerned that the CFTC’s proposal could adversely affect FERC’s fundamental statutory missions of ensuring just and reasonable rates in wholesale electric markets and ensuring the reliability of the electric grid.”

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