Now that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has turned his attention to skyrocketing natural gas prices, maybe something will be done about it, a top energy official said Tuesday.

“We call him Yoda,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Pat Wood III said of Greenspan. “He’s wise and old and could kick your butt too.”

Wood spoke at the Kansas Transmission Summit at the Adams Alumni Center.

Earlier Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Greenspan told Congress that the nation’s consumers could expect to pay high natural gas prices through the year and into the winter heating season.

Natural gas is more than $6 per thousand cubic feet, more than double last year’s price.

Wood said FERC has been sounding the alarm for months trying to stabilize the market.

He said the high prices were caused by short supplies, increasing demand, volatility in the market and doubts about the veracity of information reported in many wholesale natural gas price indices.

“We need a transparent and trustworthy price index,” he said.

Wood, an appointee of President Bush, said FERC has been “permitting pipelines like crazy,” to increase availability of natural gas.

He also said more areas need to be open to drilling, and the creation of more liquefied natural gas production facilities would help.

Kansas Corporation Commissioner Robert Krehbiel, whose background is in the oil and gas business, said because of the downturn in the economy, many companies couldn’t afford to drill. They are skittish because of spikes and dips in prices in recent years.

Much of the summit was devoted to working on ways in Kansas to more efficiently transmit electricity along regional power grids.

Nationally, Wood said, there are many inefficient transmission systems but that Kansas officials seem to be ahead in trying to find regional solutions.

“You get the joke, and the joke is that we’re all in this together,” he said.

The summit was coordinated by state Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence.