Etheridge: Crack down on gas speculation

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge wants to reign in spiraling oil prices and thinks cracking down on any market manipulation and excessive speculation going on out there is the way to go.

Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to beef up regulation of energy trading, Barb Barrett reports. Etheridge is chairman of the Agriculture subcommittee on commodities, which has jurisdiction over the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

His bill would:

* add 100 staff members to the trading commission, encouraging President Bush to make an emergency spending request for the agency. Etheridge says the agency is at its lowest staffing levels in its 33-year history.

* give the CFTC more authority over trading of energy overseas, closing the so-called"“London loophole." Some markets currently are not overseen by United States regulaors. If foreign exchanges don't provide the CFTC information it requests, the bill directs the agency to remove those exchanges’ computer terminals from U.S. soil.

* offer more transparancy so that the public can see how much influence certain traders, such as index funds and swap dealers, have over the energy markets.

More after the jump.

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Etheridge's bill is the Increasing Transparency and Accountability in Oil Prices Act of 2008.

He spoke about the bill this morning in a news conference at a Triangle gas station.

"No one factor is responsible for the current energy prices, but my legislation will attempt to keep our markets free of manipulation and excessive speculation," Etheridge said in a statement. "It will not be a cure-all for our energy prices, but it is one important step that could help to uncover one cause of these sky rocketing costs and hopefully allow for some relief for consumers."