Attorney General Hardy Myers of Oregon and Attorney General Christine Gregoire of Washington both said recent developments in the Enron case, including the indictment of former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, add to the mounting evidence the bankrupt energy trading company helped send prices soaring during the Western energy crisis of 2001.

"There can be no doubt that Enron, through fraud and deceit, sent the West Coast energy market into an unnecessary and destructive tailspin," Myers said in a prepared statement.

"The fact that FERC has not already taken adequate steps to hold this company accountable is inexcusable," he said.

Gregoire added: "The recent disclosure of tapes and trading transactions has confirmed beyond any doubt that Enron was not only involved in fraudulent and deceptive practices in the electricity markets, but that it created many of them and was actively developing new ways to defraud customers."

Both Myers and Gregoire urged FERC Chairman Patrick Wood to provide state investigators with "any and all documents" related to Enron efforts to manipulate the market and to hold the Texas company accountable.

A FERC spokesman said the agency already is working with the states and has asked Congress for additional authority to punish companies for market manipulation.

"Pat Wood has said he does wish he had more authority under the Federal Power Act to do more and act quicker," said Kevin Cadden, FERC spokesman in Washington, D.C.

"But we can only use the tools that Congress has given us, and these things take time."

He noted a $3 billion refund plan for California ratepayers has been submitted to regulators in that state, and now it is up to them to process the refunds, not FERC.

"We've set up a formula for that refund and we wish we could speed it up, but we can't it's up to California," Cadden said.

Kevin Neely, spokesman for Myers, said the states need FERC to help substantiate the allegations against Enron in order to improve the chances that states and ratepayers will see at least some money from the Enron bankruptcy.

"The question is how far down in the pecking order you're going to be," Neely said.