Kansas U.S. Senator Dr. Roger Marshall spoke to the crowd at the Fox Theatre in Hutchinson for the April legislative forum and answered a question from a constituent regarding what the federal level is trying to do for those people being hit hard by large natural gas bills after the winter cold snap.
"I can't promise you that I can fix it," Marshall said Saturday. "It's a body of evidence that we're presenting at the federal level to a organization called FERC, which is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, that would oversee the transport of energy from Oklahoma to here, Texas to here, that type of thing. We've already sent a letter to them. We've already asked them to investigate it."
Marshall also was instrumental in getting a legislative hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on the topic.
"That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is," Marshall said. "To get a hearing on a special topic within 30 days of an event in the Senate is a big deal. We're continuing to work on it from that standpoint."
In addition, Marshall is trying to make sure that some of the money that is already appropriated can go to help people with these issues.
"We're trying to find some grant monies, we're trying to find some federal dollars to help with it, as well, part of this CARES Act dollars that came out this last time, we're trying to get those to be able to be repurposed for problems like this, as well."
If you'd like to talk to Marshall's office on the topic, you can send them a message through his website.