A House agriculture panel will today take up the issue of the excessive speculation in commodities markets that may have been at least partly to blame for the $4-a-gallon price at gas pumps in the summer of 2008.

The House Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management will hear from market experts and witnesses from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on putting what are called "position limits" on futures markets. A federal deadline for setting position limits is fast approaching: The financial reform package that Congress passed this summer requires the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to implement limits on energy and metals contracts by Jan. 17, 2011.

Position limits will affect the number of energy futures contracts that a trader can hold. These limits still allow for price speculation in futures markets but will give oil producers and oil users a fairer marketplace and allow them to hedge their risks, according to remarks made by Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler at a hearing the commission held last summer on the topic.

Limits are already in place for some agriculture commodities and types of contracts.

In 2007 and 2008, there were large speculative investments in futures markets, according to a statement released last week by Commissioner Bart Chilton. Then, wheat prices hit $24 a bushel, gas hit more than $4 a gallon and crude oil rose to more than $147 a barrel.

"Studies at Oxford, Princeton, Rice and MIT all suggested an influence on price by speculators," Chilton said in his statement.

Position limits have been debated for a long time, just not on Capitol Hill. Chilton said that he has been calling for the limits for years. Last summer, the commission raised the questions of what formula should be used to set limits, who should set them and what types of exemptions there should be.

The federal government, though, beat the commission to the punch when it required limits in the financial reform package, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The commission has not yet discussed proposals for meeting the federal government's January deadline, but the topic is on the commission's agenda at a meeting tomorrow. The commission has been holding a series of meetings to figure out how to implement various parts of the reform package.

On Dec. 2, Chilton criticized the commission for delaying its discussion on the limits.

"The Reform Act was passed over four months ago -- this provision isn't a 'surprise' to anyone. It didn't fall out of the sky," Chilton said in a statement. "Of course there are issues surrounding its implementation, but none of those excuse us from meeting the statutory requirements."

Schedule: The hearing is today at 10 a.m. in 1300 Longworth.

Witnesses: Gary Gensler, chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Bart Chilton, commissioner, CFTC; Jim Collura, vice president for government affairs, New England Fuel Institute; Terrence Duffy, executive chairman, CME Group Inc.; Joel Newman, president and CEO, American Feed Industry Association; Jeffrey Sprecher, chairman and CEO of IntercontinentalExchange Inc.; and Robert Jones, senior vice president, ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC, on behalf of National Grain and Feed Association.