Gavel

As he prepares to hand over the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman’s gavel to Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) yesterday refused to completely reject the idea of placing caps on wholesale electricity prices in California. But, in an appearance before reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference on energy issues, the Alaska lawmaker also made it clear that he would first have to be assured that efforts to boost generation in the state would not be curtailed before he would consider the idea of a price cap on wholesale electricity prices in California.