Texas regulators, legislators, industry and consumers will sharea forum in March to voice concerns about the state’s high naturalgas prices and the coming advent of deregulation. The conference,tentatively set for the end of March in Austin, won unanimoussupport from the Texas Railroad Commission — but one commissionersuggested “less talk, more action” to resolve issues as quickly aspossible.

No specific date or time has been set, according to TRC’sMelissa Columbus, but she said that already, staff is working onthe program’s details. The meeting would be open to the public andinclude “all facets of industry,” including producers, the serviceindustry, gathering and transportation, storage, marketers, localdistribution companies, local and state regulators and consumers.

“The commission and legislators have been taking numerous callsfrom consumers throughout the state with their complaints,” saidCommissioner Charles Matthews. “We have got to address this issueand work toward solutions to avoid high natural gas prices.”Several state legislators joined Matthews and the other twocommissioners to testify in support of the conference.

Matthews said the conference would give the commission “theopportunity to gather information, from the producer to theconsumer, to help develop policy and recommendations to thelegislature this session to use in making legislative decisions onenergy issues, especially natural gas.”

Commissioner Tony Garza, who voted to hold the conference, saidthat “with consumers facing some of the highest natural gas billsin recent memory, there’s an urgent need to offer answers andsolutions that deal with the problem over both the short- andlong-term.” However, he stressed that the initial proposal could betoo “broad,” and suggested that areas should be targeted so thatthe TRC could “take action and best offer realistic solutions.”

Said Garza, “we simply can’t get bogged down just talking aboutnatural gas issues. The commission needs to propose real solutionsthat lead to real results.”

Carolyn Davis, Houston

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