[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 14 (Tuesday, February 15, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H417]]
              HOME HEATING OIL PRICES MUST BE BROUGHT DOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, the issue I want to talk about is the issue 
of the skyrocketing cost of home heating oil in the Northeast, 
particularly in New York and New England. It is an extremely, extremely 
serious problem.
  The problem was brought to my attention, quite frankly, by the good 
work and the efforts of our U.S. Senator from New York who was seen 
nightly on the television programs, Chuck Schumer, talking about the 
imminent problem that we are now faced with.
  I, along with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ackerman) and the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), introduced legislation to 
provide the Secretary of Energy with the authority to draw down the 
Nation's reserve oil supply in the Strategic Oil Reserve. That will go 
a long way to reducing the cost of home heating oil immediately, as was 
demonstrated back during the Iraqi conflict in 1991 when then President 
Bush opened the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and, overnight, the cost of 
home heating oil dropped by $10 a barrel, affording millions of people 
in this country more home heating oil.
  President Clinton has indicated that he will not draw down the 
supplies; but I, along with many of my colleagues, will press him in 
this matter. Hence, I have joined with a number of my colleagues in 
both political parties asking him to reconsider his refusal to use 
these reserves.
  We have a massive oil supply problem, and I believe the best way to 
address this issue and see a sharp decline in the cost of oil is to 
open these reserves and bring this oil into the market.
  Last week Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson addressed a number of 
Congressmen and women from the Northeast, and, although he too 
expressed reluctance to open up these reserves, by listening to us and 
the stories of our constituents, such as Dorothy Alteri of Dudley 
Avenue, who saw her energy bill skyrocket this year, I hope we can sway 
him to reconsider.
  Mr. Speaker, I have before me here two bills to two constituents. 
Phillip Occhino from the Bronx, his bill for the last month was $414. I 
dare say it has more than doubled this past month.
  I have another one here from Thomas Donohue from Woodside, Queens. 
His, too, his home heating bill for last month was $410.39, well above 
what they paid in the past for the same home heating oil.
  I fear that after last year's warm winter and the resulting profit 
losses of the oil refineries, that they are trying to recoup past 
deficits by overcharging this year. To reinforce this contention, I 
have noticed that the price of oil, diesel fuel and fuels in general, 
are much higher in the New York and New England region than they are in 
other parts of the country.
  For example, I got a letter from Vincent Fullone, the president of 
Fullone Trucking, who told me the national average price for diesel 
fuel on February 9, 2000, was $1.47 a gallon. On that very same day in 
New York, a gallon of diesel fuel cost $2.29 a gallon. It just is not 
fair that diesel fuel trucks in our region are paying more for their 
diesel than other regions of this country.
  It is safe to be said for the home heating oil industry and our 
gasoline prices as well that there is a serious price differential from 
what we here in New York pay versus what other people in different 
States pay. For that reason I am working with my colleagues and 
demanding an investigation by Attorney General Janet Reno and the 
Department of Justice into any price fixing that may have been 
orchestrated by the fuel oil industry.
  I am also pleased that the House has held a hearing on OPEC, the 
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. I am glad that my 
committee, the Committee on International Relations, has also held a 
hearing investigating OPEC's price-fixing schemes.
  OPEC are the same people that brought us the 1977-1979 oil shortages, 
as well as 1973; and I fear they are at it again, cutting supply to 
raise their profit margin at the expense of Americans. The U.S. must 
stop this practice of OPEC.
  For lower-income seniors I am also a supporter of the President's 
releasing more of the Nation's reserve funds in the LIHEAP program. The 
Low Income Energy Assistance Program is a Federal program that provides 
assistance to low-income Americans to pay for fuel and utility costs. 
Recently, the President released $175 million of LIHEAP surplus funds, 
with $36.6 million going to New York.
  Although I was pleased the President has begun releasing the reserve 
funds in this account, I was troubled to see the flawed formula used by 
the administration. Instead of targeting the States with the greatest 
need, like New York and the New England States, virtually every State 
in the U.S. and U.S. territories benefited from this Federal program 
for home heating assistance, including the Virgin Islands, Florida, 
Arizona and Texas. I am urging the President to release more money from 
this reserve account, but asking him to do it in a way targeting those 
people hurting the most, like the people in New York.
  In New York City there are too many seniors who live only on Social 
Security checks. They cannot afford any increase in the cost of home 
heating oil. This LIHEAP reserve fund is there to help offset the high 
cost of home heating fuel for these lower-income individuals. These 
funds should be used to aid those with the most need.
  I am also one of the principal supporters of legislation sponsored by 
my friend, the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), legislation that 
would create a home heating oil reserve that the President could draw 
down upon when oil fuel prices skyrocket, like they have this winter. 
This legislation is based on a 1998 Department of Energy study that 
outlined that a home heating oil reserve would be an effective method 
of stabilizing home heating oil prices in the future.
  Some of this oil, 2 million barrels, would be stored in containers in 
New York Harbor. I understand the Secretary of Energy has recently 
expressed some interest in this idea, and I am grateful for that. 
Although the solutions I speak of will not resolve any of the 
difficulties this winter, it would address these problems in the 
upcoming years. I want to let you know that we are working tirelessly 
on this issue.
  I received a petition just yesterday from a number of senior citizens 
in the Bronx in my district complaining about their high cost of home 
heating oil. The reality is we may not be at war with the Middle East 
nations, but we are in economic war with OPEC. The people to be the 
victims in this war will be the senior citizens, the people least able 
to afford to pay for home heating oil.

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