Join our Campaign
- Newsroom | Press Shop ¦ Permalink | Share
Murphy vows to fight gas crisis on several fronts
Jul 8, 03:52 PM
By Mary Ellen Godin
Record-Journal staff
July 8, 2008
MERIDEN — At Mid State VNA and Hospice, many of the lower-wage workers are using their gas subsidies to buy food for their families. The agency is seeing fewer workers willing to travel longer distances and a drop-off in volunteers.
But the agency, which provides 900 meals daily through its Meals on Wheels program, reports requests for meals up sharply. Most of the agency’s services are aimed at keeping patients in their homes rather than in nursing homes.
“Our employees making $8 to $10 per hour, they are really suffering,” said Ellen Rothberg, president of the VNA. “The federal government doesn’t increase our pay. How can we sustain our services?”
Rothberg was one of about a dozen representatives of the nonprofit and business communities who attended a roundtable discussion with U.S. Rep. Christopher S. Murphy, D-5th District, on Monday. Murphy, of Cheshire, said he wanted to get a face–to-face dialogue going with those on the front lines of social, business and municipal services. What he got was an earful about how Connecticut low-income residents are feeling the pinch.
“I want to bring back what it means here in Meriden,” Murphy said. “The most powerful evidence is anecdotal. Some people in Washington don’t feel the urgency that I feel. I’m making people understand the differences between Cheshire and Meriden, and Greenwich and Bridgeport,” Murphy said.
Whether or not one supports the war in Iraq – and Murphy doesn’t — it’s costing the country $10 billion a day that could be spent to invest in the economy and new fuel technologies, he said.
That news didn’t cheer Jim Cosenza of the Stormy Mountain Candle Co. in Berlin, who said the wax he uses has almost tripled in cost because it is petroleum- based.
Murphy said he is supporting long- and short-term plans to ease the gas crunch:
- The Consumer Oil Price Protection Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, which would limit investment in commodities. In 2003, $13 billion was invested; today, upward of $260 billion is tied up in the highly speculative market. Controlling speculation on oil could shave $20 off the price of a barrel of oil, Murphy said.
“At some point, this is going to collapse,” Murphy said, comparing the current run-up in oil to the housing and tech bubbles, both of which burst suddenly and dramatically. “You can decide not to buy a house or invest in technology, but you can’t decide not to drive to work,” he said. “These prices aren’t in any family’s or business’s budget.”
- Opening strategic reserves, which could yield savings of 5 to 15 cents at the pump.
- In any long-term plan, Murphy said, the country needs to find a way to wean itself off petroleum. “Shame on us if we don’t invest in new technologies,” Murphy said of hydrogen, wind and solar energy. “We’re not there yet. We’re probably about two to three years from these economies.”
- Short term, the country needs to increase its subsidies of heating programs for low-income families, Murphy said.
Social service programs such as Mid State VNA and the Women & Families Center are also feeling the squeeze. While the federal government is increasing the mileage reimbursement rate, its subsidies to agencies remain flat.
Costs of medical supplies, often made of petroleum-based plastics, are also increasing rapidly, said Linda Garcia of Meriden Center, Genesis Health Care, as she called for higher Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.
“We’re going to lose money and we don’t know how we’re going to make it up,” Murphy said. “Food pantries are seeing a 20 percent increase in the numbers of people asking for food. It’s across the board. It was the worst time for a flatrate reimbursement. This is the time you need to be bolstering your budget.”
City Councilor John Thorp, a retired police officer, reminded Murphy that states owe more to municipalities to maintain policing levels. The police budget allows for 100,000 gallons of gas per year. At 90 vehicles getting about six to 10 miles per gallon, the department has already gobbled through its budget. He fears the cutbacks will cause a reduction in patrol officers and cars. The Fire Department is in the same pinch, he said.
“We’re short $75,000 in gas and no money to maintain the cars,” Thorp said. “The impact on our community and our country is going to be devastating.”
