LOCAL ACTION ON HEAT

The stories that advocates for fuel assistance hear every year are heart-breaking. This year is particularly bad: a disabled man was down to his last 35 gallons of fuel and was getting by, for now, by keeping his thermostat at 50 degrees and wearing two pairs of pants, hat and gloves inside. A woman with two small children tries to keep them warm by sitting them in front of a clothes dryer.

An elderly couple made it through the night after a neighbor, who could barely afford it, gave them a few gallons of oil. An elderly woman in Houlton, out of oil, reports that the water in her toilet has frozen. Another couple, also out of oil, is scrounging wood wherever they can find it.

These stories and many more have arrived, pardon the irony, at the state Office of Energy Independence in just the last couple of weeks. The weather will soon get worse, more tanks are going to empty, state assistance provides only about 180 gallons of fuel when 800 to 1,000 are needed to get through the winter, but Congress is too busy handing out tax cuts to the wealthy and cutting health care to pass needed funding for the poor who are freezing.

The Baldacci administration has been strong on this issue – starting with weatherization programs this fall and following up with a pledge of additional funds for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. But it’s not enough, and it likely will never be enough if the last dozen years of chronic LIHEAP funding shortfalls are an indication.

Fortunately for this region, private funders have quickly pulled together $500,000 and in-kind contributions to attack the problem two ways: short term, by getting $250,000 to the state for heating oil this season; and long term, by figuring out ways to help Maine (and other states) out of this annual emergency.

The short-term solution comes from a single anonymous donor. Long-term money comes from several community and regional sources – the Maine Community Foundation, United Way of Eastern Maine, Bangor Savings Bank Foundation, JTG Foundation, the C.F. Adams Charitable Trust, Common Good Ventures and the Betterment Fund.

Local oil dealers have offered to donate furnace cleanings and tune-ups that can help an older furnace run up to 25 percent more efficiently. The groups will look at bulk fuel purchases and pre-buying fuel at a lower cost. Like the state, they’ve noticed that weatherizing homes can make a huge difference.

But this effort will not create a new agency, warns Jeff Wahlstrom, chairman of the Maine Philanthropy Center which is helping to lead the project. In addition to the immediate donation, it will produce several months from now some new strategies for using fuel dollars more efficiently. After that, government remains responsible for delivering funding to the needy. One helpful chore the private group has already accomplished is a brochure on where to get help with heating – the short answer is to start with your local Community Action Program.

Meanwhile, the stories of neighbors freezing for lack of fuel keep coming in.