Governor Janet T. Mills Addressed the Governors at the National Governors Association Annual Summer Meeting at the Holliday by the Inn, Portland, Earlier This month.

Governor Janet T. Mills (D), the first woman governor of Maine and the state’s first woman AG, sent a two-page letter yesterday to Federal officials in Washington, D.C. requesting increased funding and expanded eligibility for the Low-Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to ensure Maine people are able to stay safely warm in their homes this winter according to a press releae issued by her office yesterday.

Maine is expected to receive $38.7 million in LIHEAP funds for winter 2022.  Last year, the program received an additional $55. million through the federal American Rescue Plan Act, whch enabled households enrolled in the LIHEAP program to receive one-and-a-half tanks of heating oil.

In a letter to the Secretaries of the US Department of Health and Human Services and Energy, Governor Mlls stressed that, with current fuel prices, the anticipated funding for LIHEAP will instead pdrovide only one-half tank of oil to Maine households this winter.

“For vulnerable Maine households, this is the difference between having heating security during our coldest months for perhaps only days or weeks, instead of months,” wrote Governor Mills.

As a result, the Governor asked for an increased allocation of LIHEAP funding this year and urgd the Federal government to consider expanding eligibility of the program to provide assistance to those who may not have needed it before, but do now because of hgher prices.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted global energy markets earlier this year, proces for heating oil in Maine reached a peak $6. per gallon, the highest recorded figure in the fifteen (15) years of pricing surveys by the Governor’s Energy Office.  Current prices remain approximately $5 per gallon around the state, with forecasts from the federal Energy Information AGency indicating these prices are likely to continue.

Maine is the most heating oil dependent state in the country, with 60% of homes reliant on oil compared to a national average of 4%.  This makes Maine vulnerable to volatile global energy markets, with Maine consumers spending more than $4 billion annually to import fossil fueld into the state prior to the Russia-induced price spike.

The Mills Administration, with the bipartisan support of the Legislature, has made reducing Maine’s reliance on fossil fuels a priority.by enacdting some of the boldest renewable energy, emissions reductions and carbon neutrality goals in the nation.

This has included incentivizing installation of more than 60,000 high efficiency heat pumps in homes, businesses and public buildings around the state and making significant investments to weatherization homes to expand our clean energy and energy efficiency workforce and increase efficient, affordable housing options for aine people through the Maine Jobs & Recovery Act.

This blogger is reporting that according to an article in THE NEW YORK TIMES today, Saturday, July 30, 2022, entitled “Exxon and Chevron Reap Benefits of Soaring Prices,” by Isabella Simonetti:  “Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the two largest energy companies in the United States, said on Friday that profits rose to record levels in the second quarter as they continued to reap the benefits of soaring oil and gas prices.”  The article continued:  “Exxon reported income of $17.9 billion for the three months through June, more than three times what it earned in the same quarter a year ago……..Chevron’s performance was similar, with profit more than tripling to $11.6 billion as sales rose to $65 billion , compared with $35 billion a year ago.”  It’s called price gouging!