NJ:Senator sounds the alarm on home heating oil prices

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Senator sounds the alarm on home heating oil prices The Associated Press 9/21/00 6:19 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli sounded the alarm Thursday on the rising price of home heating oil, urging Garden State residents to begin preparing now for an expensive winter.

"There is a real possibility of a genuine emergency in the coming months," said Torricelli, one of eight senators who met Wednesday with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.

The senators urged Richardson and the Clinton Administration to release oil from strategic reserves and make sure poor people have enough money to pay their heating bills this winter.

Vice President Al Gore also weighed in Thursday in favor of tapping the government's emergency petroleum reserve to force down oil prices before winter arrives.

But Torricelli said government action "may not be enough," especially for residents of the Northeast. Thirty-six percent of New Jersey homes use oil heat, compared to only 9 percent nationally, he said.

Torricelli said residents of the Northeast should weatherproof their homes by adding insulation, caulking air leaks and installing storm windows, and order home heating oil immediately.

"The cost is not going to go down," he warned. "It's only going to go up."

Torricelli said his home in Englewood has new storm windows and is fully insulated, but also uses natural gas rather than oil for heat.

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?o0197_BC_NJ--HeatingOilPrices&&news&newsflash-washington

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 21, 2000

Answers

It seems like everybody and their cousin is yowling about high home heating prices these days.

They Washington politicians are having a heyday with it.

-- Loner (Loner@bigfoot.com), September 21, 2000.


They will demagogue the subject to death.

-- Uncle Fred (dogboy45@bigfoot.com), September 21, 2000.

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