Good morning.  I am excited to be attending my first EEMAC meeting as a CFTC Commissioner.  I am sorry that I couldn’t be with you in Oklahoma today as I had originally planned.  In fact, one of my earliest assignments as an intern at the CFTC was to research Cushing, and I had hoped to finally see it with my own eyes and see if I got it right.

I would like to thank Commissioner Mersinger for her sponsorship of this Committee and the EEMAC members for their service.  I am thrilled that the EEMAC will have the benefit of Commissioner Mersinger’s sponsorship and leadership.  The EEMAC hits close to home because energy and commodity markets impact our everyday lives. Without efficient and effective markets, we feel the impact in just about every aspect of our daily lives, from the moment we turn on the lights, to sitting down to dinner.  Commissioner Mersinger’s focus on ensuring that the CFTC pursues policies that promote reliable energy supplies and stable prices for all Americans is more important than ever.

The pain of energy costs this summer has been well-documented: everyone was impacted, whether with gas prices on road trips[1] or electricity bills for air conditioning.[2]  Overseas, policymakers are grappling with the fallout from the Russian pipeline shutdown, proposing to curb energy consumption in response.[3]  More drastic measures reportedly considered included price caps on wholesale power and gas,[4] as well as suspending derivatives trading,[5] and imposing bands for futures trading.[6]

The CFTC is a regulator with decades of experience in volatile energy markets under stress[7] and has shown global leadership in developing appropriate policy responses.  We, as CFTC Commissioners, need to consider the vital role our markets play in the current conditions.  It is critical to have this advisory forum for expert input from the public, and I look forward to the EEMAC’s consideration of these and other issues in the coming years.