the commissioners at ferc are with us today. we appreciate very much you being here. i certainly initiative would like to congratulate cheryl lafleur who has been appointed the acting director of ferc, and i enjoyed our meeting yesterday, ms. lafleur, and we look forward to working with you on many issues facing our country as we adjust to this changing landscape that we all are very much involved in. i would say that i think that transcending issue that certainly encompasses everything we're talking about today does relate to the way the changing landscape of energy in america. with this low price natural gas, we see a transformation from coal to natural gas. many states, and this administration particularly, are being very aggressive in trying to increase the amount of electricity produced from renewables as they try to address climate change. and i would say that as we move forward, and i think you ought particularly have to do this, is likely many people in the administration and other groups point to europe as a model for a

barton. >> welcome to the newest ferc. it's good to have you here, ma'am and the other commissioners. i listened with interest to all of the opening statements, and i was struck at the regulatory authority for ferc has. it is an agency that almost no one hears about coming yet it is -- its impact on the world economy is extraordinary. so it is a very important position that people have owed. of all of the stuff that you have responsibility over, there is probably no more important mission that you hold today in terms of the strategic interest in the united states than citing these lng facilities. the congress gave you the authority to make the final decision at least on the permit back in the energy policy act of 2005. at the time we did it we felt that he would be using that for the imports, more than the lng exports. but the fact is that between you and the department of energy, you have the ability to affect strategic interest all over the world. i met last evening with some officials from the russian energy sector and

ferc? mr. clark. >> mr. chairman, the way i understand it will be an inner to the process but it will take a look at different shape in different regions but as i indicated the grid is highly regional by nation -- other parts you have regional utilities and states coming together and talking about some of those issues. in other regions like the southeast you have a much different situation to you don't have access to renewables so you have a different regulatory structure in the state. i just been ferc has be open to understand each of those differences and accommodate those. >> the gentleman's time has expired. at this time recognize the gentleman from new york, mr. tonko, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. commissioner lafleur, in your testimony noted improvement between the years 2011 and 2012 and the number of non-weather-related bulk power system related outages. as you know with several other related issues that can contribute to reliability problems. older transmission lines and great equip

ferc is in the middle of many of those debates. for example, america's new abundance of oil and natural gas requires new infrastructure to meet demands and keep prices affordable. we've got to build this architecture of abundance quickly, given that america's role has been rising every year in -- nearly every new project is met with stiff resistance at every step of the process. components are enabled by an archaic federal register process that can be manipulated to cause years of delays for pipelines, power lines, lng export projects in some cases and block them out right. while the process that ferc generally works well, there's always room for improvement. canada, australia and most eu nations have deadlines for the environmental regulatory agencies to act. why shouldn't the u.s. hold our agency to a similar standard? congress has been active to keep pace with the new energy landscape. the house passed h.r. 1900 them a bill factories more attentively for the natural gas pipe find approval process. will soon be considering other

very supportive of ferc schools included in this plan? >> yes, i am. >> what changes would you consider on the school? to have any changes you make? maybe you haven't had time. the other gentleman made. >> when i looked most recently, it's written in a very high-level and i think most of it is things like just and reasonable rates and robust infrastructure, which i do not think they would be any need to change. i think as i said, as we look at the current situation over the country country is, i want to meet with my colleagues and figure out if there's things we need to give mark priority two. i'll be very accountable for that, but i want to do a little bit of work before you answer if possible. >> commissioner moeller, the administrative takes away the electric industry, and reduce fuel diversity, what negative consequences which you expect? >> we just have to watch reliability very, very closely. a number of us have made references to the natwest, but it's not the midwest and the next two years. the next two summers, very concerned abou

the commissioners at ferc are with us today. we appreciate very much your being here. i certainly initially would like to congratulate cheryl lafleur who has been appointed the acting director of ferc, and i enjoyed our meeting yesterday, ms. lafleur, and we look forward to working with you on many issues facing our country as we adjust to this changing landscape that we all are very much involved in. i would say that i think the transcending issue that certainly encompasses everything we're talking about today does relate to the way the changing landscape of energy in america, with this low price natural gas we see a transformation from coal to natural gas. ..

recently, it was brought to my attention that ferc has jurisdiction over lake of ozarks about tearing down some houses and then after the grand lake in oklahoma. would you be able to identify for the committee the name of the individual at ferc that would have up to date information on the authority and jurisdiction that you all have over these leaks in which hydropower is being produced? not right now, but later. >> absolutely. >> and without objection and hopefully you've all seen this, we have a letter from the american public power association, a statement that they would like to insert into the record without objection. so that's entered and we will keep the record open for ten days because as mr. hall and others said there are additional questions we would like to submit to you all. but i want to thank you for coming up today and visiting with us and for the exchange that we had and thank all of you for what you are doing and continue to do in addressing these important issues. with that, that will conclude today's hearing. thank you. >>> live picture here of a u.s. capitol wher