A Federal appellate court upheld Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rules to thwart market manipulation June 22. The 2003 federal rules to regulate and monitor wholesale energy traders were challenged as deficient because they were not accompanied by fixed rates to prevent unjust and unreasonable charges. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that FERC had authority to set market based rates and that market behavior rules were adequate. The Federal Power Act gives the commission authority to intervene in the market when rates are found to be unjust and unreasonable, but it does not mandate that the commission “reopen and reevaluate all aspects of the filed rate,” the court ruled in its five-page decision. FERC chair Joe Kelliher stated that the decision confirms the agency’s authority “to promote effective competition in wholesale power markets by preventing manipulation of those markets.” He added, “The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision earlier this week to leave the Lockyer decision in California undisturbed removes all remaining doubt about our legal authority to authorize market-based rates.” The June 22 ruling came in the case of Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel v. FERC.