71.   The lawsuit comes after more than a year of soaring wholesale power prices.

72.   The state has struggled with high wholesale power costs and a tight supply for months, due in part to power plant maintenance and scarce Northwest hydroelectricity.

73.   They also argue temporary price regulation on wholesale power markets is the only way to avoid soaring costs in a power market that is broken.

74.   They contend the agency has been far too timid in curtailing price gouging in the wholesale Western power markets.

75.   They urged Bush to call on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to impose temporary price controls on wholesale power markets in the West.

76.   Wholesale power suppliers have refused to sell electricity to the utilities because their credit is nearly worthless.

77.   Wholesale power prices have increased fivefold since last summer, and Gov. Gray Davis has accused wholesalers of profiteering to take advantage of tight supplies.

78.   Wholesale power prices have risen dramatically since June, in part of because of a hot summer and a cold winter.

79.   Williams Cos. Inc. says it can justify the rates it charged for wholesale power, despite accusations from federal regulators that it sold over-priced electricity to California.

80.   Wholesale power costs have been soaring, due in large part to skyrocketing prices for natural gas.