The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 4473) by unanimous consent. This legislation includes provisions making the natural gas futures markets more transparent and provides the CFTC with greater market oversight.Jack Eberspacher, President & CEO of the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) said "This legislation is critical to helping prevent the ongoing price volatility and market manipulation that is currently taking place in the natural gas futures markets. Traders on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have caused the price of natural gas to reach all time highs, recently exceeding $15.50 per 1,000 cubic feet, which is severely hurting America's agricultural industry. Agricultural retailers and their farmer customers cannot afford to pay natural gas and fertilizer prices that are substantially higher than last growing season. The economics simply will not work for production agriculture." The Ohio AgriBusiness Association has supported ARA, which has played a key roll in promoting the legislation. The U.S. Senate is now urged to take similar action by passing H.R. 4473 as soon as possible."