Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan undoubtedly will be the star at Tuesday’s House Energy and Commerce Committee fact-finding hearing that will explore the natural gas supply-demand imbalance situation. But his testimony will be preceded by eight leading executives in the gas industry, who are experts in their own right.

The first panel of the hearing, which will start at 10 a.m. (EST), will include Guy Caruso of the Energy Information Administration (EIA); Richard Sharples, senior vice president of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.; Donald Mason of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission; Carl English, president and CEO of Consumers Energy, who will testify on behalf of the American Gas Association; Robert Liuzzi, president and CEO of CF Industries, who will speak on behalf of the Fertilizer Institute; Forrest Hoglund, chairman of Arctic Resources Co.; Harold Kvisle of TransCanada PipeLines Ltd; and Dr. Jeffrey Currie of Goldman Sachs.

The second panel, which will begin at 2 p.m., will be reserved solely for Greenspan’s testimony, according to the House committee.

This will be an “educational hearing,” said a committee spokeswoman, who added that congressional “action could or [could] not be taken” as a result of what is learned at the proceeding.

Most industry executives insist Congress will have to take steps to open more public lands and coastal waters to producers in order to improve the gas supply situation. But the House failed to do this in its broad energy bill, which it passed in April, and the Senate isn’t expected to be any kinder to producers in its energy bill.

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