Home energy issues critical even in the heat of summer

Portsmouth Herald (NH)
August 24, 2003

It is almost impossible to conceive of the need to address home heating issues with the sun shining, the beaches packed, and temperatures in the 80s and 90s. But this is just the time it has to be done.

In just a few weeks Congress will be voting on the fate of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, commonly referred to as LIHEAP, and New England’s senators and congressman are on break this week, busy making the rounds of their states and districts. In addition, presidential candidates are arriving by the busload - literally - to try to woo the majority of the region’s voters who are yet undecided about which candidate they will support in the primary and general elections.

It is critical that Maine and New Hampshire voters begin exerting the pressure necessary to make this program - which supplies money to cover the cost of heating and cooling fuel for the nation elderly, disabled and poor - adequate to meet the needs of the rising numbers of people who will be dependent on it. Support for LIHEAP, particularly here in the Northeast where we have been struggling for years for adequate funding, must be made a campaign issue in both the upcoming presidential and congressional campaigns.

There are three issues surrounding LIHEAP funding that could result in a disastrous situation, particularly for residents of the Northeast, this winter. Two of those three issues are in the hands of Congress.

The first issues is - as always - the level of funding. The House of Representatives has voted to fund LIHEAP at $1.7 billion for the 2004 fiscal year. That is $200 million less than funding for the last fiscal year and $200 million less than even President Bush asked for.

The second issue is a push by southern states for a larger share of the LIHEAP disbursement. There is a general consensus that more elderly, disabled and poor die from heat than from cold. While that appears to be true, what is also true is that every additional dollar given to the southern states means a dollar less for the Northeast.

With a finite amount of money budgeted for this program, if the southern states are given what they desire, more people in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and other northern states will undoubtedly suffer.

The third issue may be beyond the scope of Congress. It has to do with expectations of higher fuel costs this year.

It has been projected that the cost of natural gas will rise to new heights this winter, resulting in higher fuel costs and existing federal money being spread even thinner. In addition, with the situation in the Middle East still far from stable, there is a good chance oil prices will
increase as well.

Last year, here in Rockingham County, more than 3,200 families received LIHEAP funds. Often the amount available to them was substantially less than the costs of heating their homes over what was a particularly long and cold season.

People suffered and, despite the best attempts of the regional Community Action Programs, many residents either had to go to their town welfare officers for additional money - something we all pay for through our property taxes - or had to make the impossible choices of whether to heat their homes, buy food or purchase medicines.

To prevent that situation from reoccurring - and, most likely, intensifying - it is clear we must secure additional home heating and cooling funds from the federal government for all Americans. Even in the midst of what have been the "dog days" of summer, we must urge our elected representatives - and those seeking the most important position, perhaps in the world - to secure what is often the very means of survival for the low-income people of this country.