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Administration releases emergency heat aid
Sep 18, 12:35 PM
Associated Press
By ANDREW MIGA
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration said Wednesday it was releasing $121 million in emergency relief funds to help poor people cope with record home heating bills expected this winter.
Officials said $96 million would be distributed nationwide. An additional $25 million will be targeted to states with large numbers of families relying on oil heat, including Alaska and the New England states.
“The release of these funds will address the energy emergencies low-income families face during the upcoming cold winter months,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.
Lawmakers and heating aid advocates had pressed President Bush to provide more money through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, which represents state-run low-income energy assistance programs, predicts home heating oil costs will hit record levels this winter. The group said the national average cost to heat a home with oil this winterwill be $2,524, up from $1,962 last winter. The Northeast, with its cold winters and reliance on oil heat, is particularly vulnerable to rising energy costs.
“This extra money helps, but it is not nearly enough,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the association.
Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., organized a joint letter last week withhis New England colleagues urging Bush to release the emergency money. Murphy said the funds, approved for emergency use in the fiscal yearending Sept. 30, would have expired if Bush had not acted.
“This funding is a critical down payment for a very expensive homeheating season in Connecticut,” Murphy said. “It would have made absolutely no sense for $100 million in funding for people who desperately need it this winter to disappear simply because of inaction by the president.”
New York will get more than $12 million in additional fuel aid.
“More people than ever are going to need LIHEAP assistance, and these additional funds will hopefully ensure that anyone who needs help can get it,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “Nobody should have to choose between putting food on the table and heating their homes.”
The Energy Information Administration, a statistical division of the U.S. Department of Energy, projected last month that natural gas andheating oil will be at record highs this winter.
In some cases, home heating oil, propane and kerosene is already twice as high as it was two years ago, meaning that a dollar of federal aid will not travel nearly as far this winter.
A slumping economy that has left many more people without jobs has made the problem worse, Wolfe said.
In Congress, members from the Northeast pressed unsuccessfully this summer to add billions to the LIHEAP program. Congress last year approved roughly $2.6 billion for LIHEAP for fiscal year 2008.
