eastern connecticut and my electrical rates, when i asked is, they at the bill are pretty reasonable. cl and p and we constantly get calls from people wanting us to switch but i don't switch because i already know that game. who areif we had people in charge of overlooking these are cular industries who reign to rein in these individuals who are trying americans constantly. if we had people like john with demeanor, the country would be a lot better off. thank you. very kind of you, russ. thank you. there are a lot of dedicated employees and i think it is important that we do have role.ment in a proper i think markets are great and we need to expand them as much as possible. but that doesn't mean we deregulate them and government goes away. a cop on the ve beat to make sure the markets are fair for consumers. host: we look at news stories like politico reporting that you announced your resignation and plan to step down when in the seat in ferc. ut one story they say you have ankled republican linemen for rebuffing them on whether e.p.a. air regulation might threaten of the power y grid. is that about? guest: we were discussing with regulations that will require a number of coal lants be shut down because it would be more economical to shut them down than to invest the money to put in the emissions reductions equipment. to entail some retirements across the country. but we believe they can be done and with rly fashion proper planning. he planning we are putting in place in the order 1,000 and in he states with some of the integrated resource planning. we believe that there will not problem.ability we have done the analysis and we have done our analysis and the been is that i think has done at the national electric company which is an entity that we oversee that .ooks at reliability nerc they are called. ultimately we feel very confident that these retirements are not going to cause problems for the country. caller: phoenixville, susan, ania, independent. caller: john, i applaud you also. commission has done so much in china and middle east for people's lives. do you have any new plan for pgrading energy in the u.s., like helping to reduce the high energy costs in the northeast us?t are just killing and maybe something like electric cars in every garage? well, certainly we are concerned about high energy costs and we think the best to reduce them is eliverability of lower cost resources so that is why the pipelines on of new for natural gas in the northeast. reliability g at issues for the northeast use of g the increased natural gas to generate electricity there. emissions things like requirements and also the lower cost of natural gas. think that, again, opening these markets up and ensuring have access to them and providing the infrastructure like pipelines can ransmission lines that deliver the products to consumers are going to help you you your costs low and help control those costs. -- : is there a rollover ferc?overseas with guest: we have had dialogue with the chinese and memorandum of with the national energy agency which is the share ent of d.o.e. to and exchange information on high like sphamart grids, voltage transmission lines, one thing they have done well that to look at. and other things where they have technology and policy ideas we them and they can share with us. damascus, pennsylvania, democrat line. caller: i'm concerned about when y you run that pipeline. running a ou are monksville er the dam in new jersey. you had one heck of a nerve the only water available. you come up with this baloney that natural gas is good. not good. , many professional people have been telling you it ever, ever, be done and you got one heck of a nerve us.ing this crap through the pipelines as well as the well cases. the professor has told you that they have a horrible -- they break apart and the corruption, the absolute of this governor who is raping this state and selling everything out. don't know what the heck to do. the old wells that are drilled regulated. i got breast cancer because of ou, buddy and all of your baloney friends. host: before we get a response aom the chairman, what do you tribute your cancer to? caller: apparently it was from leaking into it and none of the wells that have been have been the past regulate and will never be regulated. -- i hope host: i'm sorry about your illness. he is talking about methane leaking into water systems. respond to that concern and do pipeline she is talking about in particular? guest: i'm not familiar with the particular pipeline. leaking ect to methane into water. it is not under our jurisdiction at all. federalunder either the e.p.a. or state environmental protection agencies. do again believe that atural gas can be developed responsibly. i would advocate that it should be developed responsibly so is not leakage and environmental damage to consumers. everything support that needs to be done to ensure that. ost: from the website njspotlight.com looking at nudge shows an angry protest failed to work on a controversial natural goes pipeline. river in the delaware basin area. from g at it from pennsylvania to new jersey and new york. passion.r had a lot of where does that come from and how do you deal with that? passion any time you have this infrastructure sited and sely associated with consumers. one area we look at is t. is ssion lines difficult to site one. it is one thing we don't have siting tion over transmission lines but we know that consumers can be very and rned about those lines it can be about gas liens to some extent although they are indrive as a transmission - as intrusive as a transmission line. but there are tradeoffs we have to make to have the quality and living we have in this country the infrastructure has to be built. hat doesn't mean it can't be built responsibly and in an way tomentally sensitive minimize damage and mitigate impacts to local communities. do that in every instance where we put in infrastructure. host: michael joins us from indiana, republican line. wondering, i'm buying a chevy volt today and improving king about he infrastructure i'm curious what you think or see as the future of consumer pricing for this country. thank you. guest: well, thank you for that question. very good t i see a future for consumer pricing because i think consumers will choices. things like the chevy volt, car that ectric ultimately can be used to not nly provide you transportation transport your family but in addition to that the batteries in that car can be things like provide services to the grid which will help you lower your cost. for example, le, at university of delaware, a l -- man named which will who has used n batteries for cars at night to provide grid services back to grid, regulation service, and pay the consumer to do that. essence, you get a free charge. so there are opportunities with the new technologies and the we can make them available through expanding markets and we can, i think, olonel costs for -- control costs for consumers so i see a bright future for affordable energy.e host: talk about the future potential of a smart grid and be in rc's role would that? guest: we have a large role the structureste for the wholesale markets and we ensure nothings like only that you have access in the holesale markets to non traditional resources like wind access tobut you have demand response which means consumers changing their demand operator hen the grid asks them to do so and in response they get paid to do it. mid-atlantic he area where d.c. is, maryland, ew jersey, there's a grade operator called p.j.m., jersey, maryland, and that grid operator has omething like 15,000 megawatts of demand response which is 15 large nuclear power plants worth that they can e put in the grid and the effect is to lower rates for consumers real time for wholesale price he is. so, the smart grid is very those types ofse resources, number one, once be available without the rules we place that allow them to bid into the market. number two, they wouldn't be available without the technology we have to communicate from the consumers to the grid to let the are know those consumers providing those resources to the grid. host: what do you personally see grid future of a smart and how to make it strong and ot vulnerable, say, to cyber attack or other major outages and problems? being i see the future as a distributive grid. one of the first callers talked about a distributed solar energy and i think you will see a we expansion of that. that will help consumers control heir insurance at a local level. but they will be interconnected in a mesh insurance. instead of having this point to point with one large power connecting with a whole host of consumers in the city, ou will have a whole group of consumers with their own power plants locally connecting to in a mesh together and connecting to other centralized wind, solar and natural gas. we will be working together as organized group. it will be two-way communication -- or ration that multiway operation in a network we have never seen before. albany, oregon, independent call, will. organgood morning. i have two questions for mr. wellinghoff. regarding the natural gas industry, i think it is one of hidden stories in the america that we have energy independence through fracking and other of natural gas production. i'm curious about the market prices. department of e energy has just allowed another natural gas terminal on the gulf to start exporting our abundant natural gas. does the price go down if things the price for consumers right now should be at its lowest and as we start selling the excess, the supply goes down so the price mr. go up. isn't shall -- the price will go up. isn't that the way it works? guest: if classic economics it oes although interestingly enough what i'm seeing is shell ed finds of new goes availability. so i'm not sure how much the sly is going down, number one. really affected pric prices, any of the proposed exports. fact we haven't put any major export facilities in place yet. export wo, those facilities are going it cost a lot of money to put together and it will take a lot of time. i don't believe that we have or will have the capacity in the to export sufficient amounts of natural gas to have a price as far as making it go up. so i think we will continue to increase with new shale finds. in e is a very large one california that i was not even aware of that i read about the other day. one in georgia apparently. so, we are seeing new availability of gas that we believed was in existence. when i came to ferc almost seven now, no one even knew bout the shales that we have developed today or if they did know about it they were very we have loped and increased the amount of natural goes developed over that short 50%.od of time of more than so, who knows what we will increase the next five to 10 years. is goingdon't think it to have a significant effect on the price. stay verye price will stable for a long time between the three and six dollar range. from new york l city, marta, independent. tpwhrao caller: i have a question for my mother in florida. why can't the individuals use more solar energy to lower their bills? there are so many permits and problems. a fixed lives on income and her energy costs rival her mortgage when she had mortgage. now she can barely keep up with .er soaring energy bills i called florida power and light to do a thing with the for solar, and they 60%, 65%, you pay it off in 14 years, 10 years and paying florida power and light 35%. costs will go the up enough to be back where they ere and i said that won't save my mother any money. he says you are saving pollution i go e environment and yes, but my mother can't pay her bills. why is it so impossible to be grid?e guest: it is changing very quickly. i really sympathize with your she is nd high bills paying but i think solar will come to her very soon. financing ew structures the solar developers are putting together for that i al consumers think will make it affordable consumers to move to solar within a very short number of years. that doesn't mean you are going off the grid. you will still be connected to he grid because the interconnections between the distributed systems and our larger central systems are everybody keeplp the rates down. host: ferc chairman john wellinghoff, federal energy regulatory commission. s we mentioned earlier he has announced his resignation. he will step down when somebody is in place. doing know what you are next? and are you under any obligation o the american public to avoid certain jobs or roles as you eave this federal regulatory electricity cop as the "baltimore sun" calls you, position? any current t have plans. i'm looking at what opportunities i may have during he interim period that i will still be at ferc until my successor is until nighted and confirmed. , but i ontinue to vote will also try to avoid any are any and if there firms i'm speaking to that are before ferc i will recuse myself from those cases. beyond that when i leave i have an obligation under the law to practice before ferc for a year and will certainly honor that. beyond it, i have open ossibilities in the energy field and i'm excited about them. >> john wellinghoff, thank you time.ur guest: thank you, libby. america by theur numbers segment looks at safety, schools. and crime in we will be right back. >> when you first arrived four ears ago i'm sure you never imagined that at the end of that time there would be a lady talking to you in a funny accent. accent has been the bane of 1980 i ence until in moved to new york and met henry me inger and he said to don't ever worry about your accent. you can an public live never underestimate the totalages of complete and incommenceability. >> this weekend more stories and class for new graduating with commencement speeches from government officials tonight at f.b.i. director, the federal chairman, the governor and florida overnor, attorney general and saturday at 8:30 business leaders. >> she made the first speech by a sitting first lady. he first president of the daughters of the american revolution. esigns her own china and establishes the white house china collection and first to have a christmas tree in the white house. meet the wife of the 23rd resident benjamin harrison as we continue our series on first ladies with your questions and monday night live at 9:00 eastern on c-span, c-span and c-span.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our america by the takes a look at school crime, violence and safety. planty oined by missile from the bureau of justice statistics chief of the statistics unit. thank you. and the other guest is staff education week nirvi shah. thank you for coming in. the big y, what is picture of crime in school today? improvements or on the decline? guest: the highlights are we are seeing a large decline in violent crime and theft at other indicators they are relatively flat such as bullying. weapon carrying and threats at school. that tflat. host: what does violence mean? guest: first, measuring school violence is challenging. that?o we mean by does it main we are on school property? from bout going to and school? and during after-school activities. get that focus then away look at other indicators. violence, theft, bullying. drug use, gang activi activity, and also the measures that ety and prevention schools put in place. host: where do we get the information? ou talked about what we are looking at but where does it come from? uest: the information is a collaboration between the department of justice and education and information from c.d.c. and put together annual annual report. this is the 15th report. on information from students, principals, teachers nd administrative records from schools. it is a compilation of multiple sources to give a very broad of school crime and safety. host: we see from the bureau of 2% ice statistics less than of youth homicides occurred at to 2010.d from 1992 nirvi shah, we are seeing an mprovement in the number of deaths and victimizations. do we know why? guest: i think society at large is getting a little less violent. that is a reflection of sort of gun culture, drug culture. kind of thing. i also think reporting and gone up. have the reporting itself hasn't gone awareness of violence and bullying has i am proved so there is more prevention in than maybe a couple of decades ago. see the total rate of victimizations against students as greater at school than away in the year 2011. you see per 1,000 students the victimizations and in the blue it is at school and red away from school. 50 or under 50 people per 1,000 mark. whether it matter incidents happen at school or away from school? clustered by the hundreds at school so it is more likely something could happen in tight spaces, exposed to each other, getting irritated maybe unhappy , with a particular class. that form and es school is a place where activity an breed and at home you have little more space. it is interesting that the trend lines are similar regardless of where kids are. just that way these days. we look at serious violence at and away not much of a difference. guest: historically away from has been much higher than at school for serious violence no in recent years there is difference statistically. host: we will show this on the screen. the phone lines for you to call. us.nts can join teacher you can call also. >> also, students can join the conversation. 202-585-3883. nirvi shah, what factors make students vulnerable when we look the overall school population and subsets? say for vocates would sure anyone that is part of a minority group whether racial whether it is, sexual education, male, female. you could be a minority at one another d not at school. that is a big factor. first bully iing centered ions have a und students who have esbian, guy, bisexual and transagenda transagendaer status. it depends on the make-up of the school but who you are and where you fit is a big part of it. planty, bullying at school and cyber bullying. bullying s show 28% ns at school in 2011 reported being bullying. we know in is a rather high rate when you think about and is including physical verbal bullying. we found differences by male and female. accounted for by verbal taunt and rumor spread. bullying doesn't really difficult between male muchemale and lower grades higher rate of bullying than higher grades. that could be a couple of things. be older kids don't report being bullied even if there is otherat types of changes going on in the attribute we can't to bullying. host: you tracked cyber bullying. why? and how does that weigh in? not : overall these are mutually exclusive. this is a form of means or mode bullying and has become important in recent years with he explosion of social media, exting, i.m.ing and use of phones. we find the same relationships hold. 9%.about there is some indication it is a issue.g host: nirvi shah, a story you are ted this month states pressing schools to add intruder drills. they are gaining traction in houses.te w what are you seeing in terms of evelopments and what has changed since the shooting at sandy hook elementary? uest: we did an analysis looking at state policies that re being driven by newtown and emergency planning while arming and getting police have gotten more attention better planning for emergencies is at the top. there are hundreds of proposals specifically about that. there is more drills. is a new idea of a shooter reacting drill it would students gohers and through an active shooter situation which is a scary the reality but there are states they feel like must-do. host: the bureau of justice looked at the increased ercentage of public cancels using -- schools using safety and security measures. does that mean? guest: we have different ways to access to the nd school. doors locked,