A colder than normal winter, a general strike in Venezuela and a pending war in Iraq have combined to push the price of oil to painful highs. Historically, such situations have meant that those living in the Northeast, a region dependent on heating oil, turned down thermostats and emptied savings accounts to keep their furnaces going. But two years ago, at the urging of Congress, the president approved the sensible idea of setting aside 2 million barrels of heating oil for price emergencies – much like the one the Northeast is experiencing now.

The reserve, watched over by the Department of Energy, can be released whenever the president decides an emergency exists, but it also has guidelines – largely that the price of heating oil has to exceed the crude-oil price by 60 percent for a couple of weeks. The price at this point does not meet this standard, but that is largely a function of a faulty set of guidelines rather than a lack of emergency. The guidelines don’t account for a major supplier of heating oil, Venezuela, going on a prolonged strike that has raised the price of crude oil and made the difference between it and heating oil less than it would be under normal conditions.

The DOE currently is reviewing three factors in determining whether the Northeast has an oil emergency: the absolute increase in the heating oil price, the inventory reports and the natural gas market. All three point to releasing the reserve – the price of heating oil is heading for $2 a gallon and the inventory report to be released today is expected to show diminished supplies. The natural-gas market is important because many industrial contracts for natural gas call on a fuel switch to No. 2 oil when the temperature drops below 15 degrees, something it has done regularly throughout the Northeast this winter. Even the backup supplier for heating oil, parts of Europe, has diverted production to meet an increased demand for jet fuel.

In a letter to the president written Monday by Sens. Susan Collins and Jack Reed of Rhode Island and signed by eight others, including Sen. Olympia Snowe, they accurately observed that, “Given the current economic situation, small businesses, families and states cannot afford further increases in distillate fuel prices. A release from the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve would provide significant relief to the region and prevent the crisis that occurred during the 2000 winter.”

Heating oil prices are 37 percent higher now than at the same time last year and are likely to go higher. It takes approximately two weeks between the time a release from the reserve is approved and consumers begin to receive the lower-cost oil, making swift action essential. Congressional leaders have made their argument to the president; the Northeast’s governors must speak up, too, and demand the use of the oil reserve.

There is no better time than now to bring relief to a freezing region.