Heating Fuel Dealers Call on Washington to Address High Energy Costs

At its recent quarterly board of directors meeting, the New England Fuel Institute approved a new national public policy agenda calling on Congress to address factors contributing to high energy costs and to promote diversity and choice in the marketplace.

The NEFI board also voted to join some members of Congress and other energy groups in calling on the Obama administration to release product from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in light of the ongoing events in the Middle East and North Africa, which may put global supplies of crude oil at risk.

 ‘Our industry believes that Washington needs to get off its hands and do something about the various issues affecting consumer energy prices,” said Jim Collura, NEFI’s vice president for government affairs.

Collura pointed to short-term solutions, such as utilizing petroleum reserves and addressing unchecked commodity speculation, as well as long-term solutions promoting efficiency and renewable energy and removing barriers preventing domestic energy independence. 

 ‘Congress and the president have to stop ‘kicking the can’ down the road,” Collura said.

The home heating industry has also laid the groundwork for a grassroots campaign to address factors rising energy prices. NEFI has already invited its members to visit its online Legislative Action Center, where they can send a letter urging Congress to take action on domestic energy security, to fully fund new commodity trading rules included in last year’s new Wall Street reform law, to investigate the affect of Federal Reserve monetary policy on rising commodity prices and to lay off rhetoric threatening new regulations and taxes on the energy industry.