Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Office of External Affairs 

 Three Lafayette Centre 

 1155 21st Street, NW 

 Washington, DC 20581 

 202.418.5080 

Remarks 

Opening Remarks of Committee Chairman Walter Lukken 

Before the Energy Markets Advisory Committee 

June 10, 2008 

On behalf of my colleagues, I want to welcome everyone to the first meeting of the 

Commission’s newly established Energy Markets Advisory Committee or EMAC. 

Given the unprecedented market conditions of the day, this meeting is occurring at a 

critical and opportune time. Recent substantial increases in the price of crude oil and 

other commodities have put considerable strain on American families, farmers, and 

businesses. These issues are a matter of intense focus at the Commission, due to the 

key role that futures markets play in the price discovery process. The CFTC is 

committed to ensuring that our nation’s futures markets operate fairly and efficiently, 

and that commodity prices are determined by the fundamental forces of supply and 

demand, rather than by abusive or manipulative practices. 

We share public concerns about the need for the utmost transparency and integrity in 

the energy futures markets, and we are devoting all available agency resources to 

fulfilling our mandate to protect and ensure the integrity of the commodity futures and 

options markets. Our dedicated staff works tirelessly each day to pursue this important 

mission, and we have a history of taking strong enforcement actions to punish market 

manipulation and fraud. 

Such times require regulators to remain diligent in their efforts to protect the markets 

from abuse and to enhance market oversight – in order to serve the greater public 

interest. Just last week the CFTC announced its national crude oil investigation and 

several other important energy initiatives, including a new agreement with the U.K. 

Financial Services Authority to expand the data received from institutions trading crude 

oil products across borders. The CFTC also announced that it will use its authorities to 

demand more detailed data from energy market participants on the amount of index 

money coming into the markets and to examine whether these funds are properly 

classified for regulatory and reporting purposes. These initiatives are critical and we are 

working hard to implement all of them expeditiously. 
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Today, the CFTC also announced the formation of a CFTC-led interagency task force to 

evaluate developments in commodity markets. The task force – which includes staff 

representatives from the CFTC, Federal Reserve, Department of the Treasury, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Energy, and Department of 

Agriculture – will examine investor practices, fundamental supply and demand factors, 

and study the role of speculators and index traders in the commodity markets. It is 

intended to bring together the best and brightest minds in government to aid public and 

regulatory understanding of the forces that are affecting the functioning of these 

markets and it will strive to complete its work quickly and make public its results. 

Today’s Energy Markets Advisory Committee meeting grew out of a hearing the 

Commission held last fall to examine the oversight of trading on exempt commercial 

markets. Many of you participated in that hearing. As a result of that public forum, the 

Commission proposed legislative changes to Congress to bring greater transparency 

and oversight to these markets. These recommendations, which were largely adopted 

last month as part of the Farm Bill, will provide the CFTC with important new authorities 

to regulate the energy markets, and we appreciate the work of all those who helped to 

make these provisions the law of the land. Last fall’s CFTC report also recommended 

the Commission form an energy markets advisory committee to facilitate public 

discussion surrounding the regulation and policies of the energy markets. I am 

confident that this standing forum will better enable the Commission to listen and learn 

from the insights of those directly participating in and impacted by the energy markets. 

As the Commission moves forward with the implementation of its energy markets 

initiatives, this Committee will be critical to ensuring that the Commission is fully 

informed of industry developments and innovations so that the Commission can rapidly 

respond to changing market conditions and ensure that these markets are functioning 

properly and not subject to foul play. The Commission has selected each of you to 

become members of this new committee because of your knowledge of the energy 

markets and the insight that you can provide to the Commission. We hope that 

involving a cross section of the industry and public will allow participants to learn from 

each other and assist the Commission in its oversight and understanding of the energy 

markets. 

I would like to personally thank each of you for making time for this committee’s 

important work. I want to especially thank Guy Caruso of the Energy Information 

Administration of the Department of Energy, Kevin Kelly of the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, Patricia Galvan of the Federal Trade Commission and Bill 

Hederman of the Congressional Research Service for attending today as government 

observers. 

I look forward to an informative and energetic meeting.