There appears to be one issue that Republicans and Democrats onCapitol Hill can agree on — gas prices are too high. ChairmanFrank H. Murkowski (R-AK) of the Senate Energy Committee andRanking Minority Member Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) have called for anoversight hearing to look into rising natural gas prices.

The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 12 in SenateDirksen 366. Appearing before the committee will be representativesof the gas industry and the Department of Energy’s EnergyInformation Administration.

“Spot prices for natural gas on Dec. 6 hit $9.54/MMBtu. Thatcompares to a price a year ago of about $2.16/Btu,” said Murkowski.”We are concerned about both price and availability of supply as wemove into the winter months.”

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