Home heating crisis in Maine now 'desperate'

[jpak]

http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=157496&zoneid=500

BANGOR - Toys for Tots? How about Oil for Tots?

Many, if not most, of the state’s neediest families are now in crisis when it comes to finding a way to pay for home heating oil, and assistance agencies are running so low on fuel funds that they are desperate for private donations.

That was the consensus at a fuel assistance resource meeting at U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office Friday. Collins’ office called the meeting to gather representatives from more than 10 social service agencies from area counties to determine how to use their existing resources most efficiently

<snip>

The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is the primary source of aid for families whose income is 150 percent to 170 percent of the federal poverty limit. This year, the program is expected to help about 47,000 Maine households with average annual incomes of $13,000, according to Joanne Choate, LIHEAP manager for the Maine State Housing Authority.

This year, applications are pouring in in record numbers, and at least 51,000 people are expected to apply, Choate said. The Penquis program in Bangor already has denied at least 600 applications.

<more>

[Bitwit1234]

1. Bush cut the funds from a bill remember.

while his lying ass sits in warmth provided by OUR tax money he sends money to Iraq, for his buddies and lets the real people in this country freeze.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I really REALLY hate him

[gogogodzilla]

5. Lower home heating oil prices

Wouldn't be best way to help lower income families with their heating bill... be to do whatever necessary to actually get the price of the heating oil down to a level they can afford? Or making the cost of switching to something else very cheap as well.

Instead of just cutting them a government check each month?

But that would involve increasing the supply of home heating oil. Or increasing the supply of alternatives.

[razzleberry]

6. heating with oil i$ $tupid

the most expensive choice available
(OK, well, slightly less stupid than electricity)

is there some reason that Mainers
don't know about wood, coal and corn stoves?

[jpak]

7. No - electricity is the most expensive

http://www.woodpelletinfo.com/calculator.php

More than half the homes in Maine burn wood (and that number will go way up next year).

A lot of these people rent and oil is the heating tech of choice from a landlord perspective - cheap to install and maintain.

There is no economic incentive for landlords to install wood furnaces or stoves to replace oil burners. Renters pay for the heat and if they can't keep up with the rent and oil bills, landlords can always just drain the pipes and wait for summer.

Furthermore, families making $13K a year can't afford gas to get to work - or oil or electric heat - or pay $2-3000 to install a pellet or wood stove - even though it would save them a ton of $$$ to do so.

In 2006, many people locked in their oil prices during the summer as a hedge against rising oil prices. They gambled and they lost. Oil prices during the winter of 2006-7 fell significantly below the price they contracted. Many of those that got "burned" in 2006 did not lock in their oil this summer - and they got screwed again.

[NNadir]

3. Oh please...

Everybody knows that Maine is 100% powered by renewable energy.

At least it is on the family owned sustainable managed estates, the ones that 50 people drive to in order to have a sumptuous $1.69 eighty two course meal, followed by a glass of Allen's Coffee Brandy.

There are zero one room apartments in Maine that can't have windmills at $50,000 worth of solar toys.

Every Maine house is like the Maine Solar House, a McMansion that cost "only" $400,000 to build (and this in one of the lumber capitals of the world) in 1995. If you have not joined Greenpeace and know how to do something called counting you recognize that 1995 was 12 years ago. It is obvious that Debbi and Bill Lord (or should we say "Lord Bill and Debbi) set such an example for the rest of the world, and of course, Maine, causing hundreds of millions of Maine Solar Houses to be built everywhere on earth.

In fact, CNN television crews just drive around all day, day after day, week after week, visiting different "Maine Solar Houses."

I can't see why anyone would be concerned with heating costs in Maine, where everyone can heat their houses electrically because all of the electricity in Maine is produced from solar, wind and biomass as we've all heard time and time and time and time again.

Well at least those of us who don't believe in numbers like the ones that indicate that Maine is producing only 95% of the renewable energy that it produced in 1991:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/sept05me.xls

Um. Well then. Um... Um...

Of course this must mean - if you don't believe in inconvenient things called numbers and why should anybody believe in numbers - that Maine must be conserving energy like hell.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/sept10me.xls

If the people of Maine think this is bad, just wait until the Sable Island gas field stops producing.

[jpak]

4. Ummm...Sable Island did "stops producing" last weekend...

and guess what - nothing happened...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x124336

[Systematic Chaos]

8. So this is how the anti-nuke dogmatists define nothing?

<snip>

“A number of power plants went out of service in Maine, (because) a significant source of natural gas supply was unavailable,” said Erin O’Brien, a spokesperson for New England ISO, the not-for-profit manager of New England’s six-state electricity grid.

<snip>

“I think the immediate issue has been resolved,” she said. “But when we have an incident like this, it shows Maine is heavily dependent on natural gas for its electricity. Maine needs to do a better job diversifying.”

O’Brien said the weekend advisories were the first “power watches,” issued by ISO this year. She did not recall the last time ISO issued the more urgent “power warning,” for Maine. She said Maine relies upon natural gas as a source for creating about 47 percent of its electricity supply, compared to an average of 40 percent New England-wide.

<snip>

All of this due to, according to the article, Supplies of natural gas were tight because equipment failure closed an offshore platform at Sable Islands off Novia Scotia, industry officials said.

<snip>

So, I suppose "nothing" will happen when that gas field actually shuts down for good as well? Because, obviously, renewables (2015) are gonna replace (2025) all that natural gas (2040)... any... (2055) day... (2080) now... (2110) right?

Right?

:yoiks:

[jpak]

9. Nothing happened here last weekend - no brownouts, no blackouts.

Maine exports 40% of the electricity it produces to southern New England.

The two natural gas plants that were shut last weekend did not threaten Maine's supply of electricity - Maine's existing biomass and hydro powerplants produced all that was needed.

The shutdown threatened Massachusetts' and Connecticut's electricity supply - not Maine's.

Mass. better step up and build Cape Wind - and soon...

Oh yeah - there are >750 MW of wind power capacity under development in Maine and most of that will be on-line by 2011.