NO OIL, THOUSANDS COLD! Clinton To Declare Massachusetts State Of Emergecy?

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I don't have time to Cut, Paste and Format this Story right now so heres a Link. Maybe someone would like to take a stab at it?

No Oil, Thousands Cold

-- Zguy (
its@bubble.con), February 04, 2000

Answers

The moderator of the forum heard the story on the radio. And here's an article posted at the forum:

For educational use only http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/lonw/heat02042000.htm

Oil crisis puts Joe K's energy corp. on hiatus by Doug Hanchett

Friday, February 4, 2000

Bombarded by requests from cash-strapped homeowners looking for heating oil on the cheap, Citizens Energy Corp. was forced to put its discount fuel program on hold yesterday to clear up a major backlog.

``What we're trying to do is manage the crisis as best we can,'' said Joseph Kennedy II, head of the nonprofit, which has sold oil at 40 cents per gallon to 8,300 low-income families this year.

Like consumers, Citizens Energy has been hard hit by oil prices that have jumped 60 percent since mid-January. At a press conference yesterday, Kennedy renewed his call for federal regulation of the oil industry to insure steady supply levels - and reasonable prices - to regions that fall prey to bone-chilling winters.

``Thousands and thousands of familes are going cold as we speak,'' Kennedy said. ``And they're going cold because of improper planning by the government and the oil industry to deal with what any reasonable individual could have predicted.'' And Larry Chretien, executive director of the Boston Oil Consumers Alliance, a consortium of 6,000 homeowners, empathizes with Citizens Energy and other fuel assistance programs.

And he doesn't believe oil industry claims that the prime culprit is the bitter cold temperatures that have gripped the Northeast in recent weeks.

``Up until Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we were milder than last winter, which was the warmest ever'' he said. ``I don't buy the argument from some suppliers saying it's a weather situation.'' ]

Edited by JayCee at: 2/4/00 8:22:46 am

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 04, 2000.


"Kennedy renewed his call for federal regulation of the oil industry to insure steady supply levels - and reasonable prices - to regions that fall prey to bone-chilling winters.:

ummm, hummmm. More regulations are exactly what we need, right?

``Thousands and thousands of familes are going cold as we speak,'' Kennedy said. ``And they're going cold because of improper planning by the government and the oil industry to deal with what any reasonable individual could have predicted.''

How do we get people like this? He claims that the government screwed up, so he wnats more governbment intervention.

Yeah, right.

-- rocky (rknolls@no.spam), February 04, 2000.


"And they're going cold because of improper planning by the government and the oil industry to deal with what any reasonable individual could have predicted."

I see. It's all the government's fault. If any reasonable individual could have predicted it, why couldn't any homeowner have prepared for that possibility? It's always somebody else's fault, isn't it?

-- Die Fledermaus (shadow@alliance.org), February 04, 2000.


"And they're going cold because of improper planning by the government and the oil industry to deal with what any reasonable individual could have predicted."

Ah, "they" being everyone except those who prepared for these y2k related supply problems.

-- (@ .), February 04, 2000.


Only Ayn Rand or a mother could love you coldhearted Buchanan dialectic spewing elitists. Have you thought for a moment that if there were some control of the oil industry we wouldn't be headed toward the mess that now seems inevitable. Enjoy hyperinflation and the unemployment it inevitably brings fellas? Well good for you, you should be proud.

-- Blew5MM (gaf@mindspring.com), February 04, 2000.


If we had government control of the energy industry we'd no doubt be in a worse mess! Consider the Russians and their managed economy...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 04, 2000.

"State of Emergency"

Uh oh

Anything from national tax dollars being directed to the area (inevitable)

To fed and/or UN troops assuming ownership of the Mass. oil industry (not likely, but legal under current exec orders for states of emergency)

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 04, 2000.


Die Fl.. After the normal homeowner burns his 150 - 200 gals of Kero, and needs it refilled 2 months earlier than expected he is in trouble. They typically DID plan for the 3 day storm, and checked to see that they had enough kero.

Blew5MM .. You MIGHT like to be a bit more careful in terms of gov't intervention. THere JUST MIGHT NOT be ANYTHING the gov't can do about the supplies, since it would appear that the current limitation is OUTSIDE the North East. If it's a production problem they are going to be just as powerful as you and I, in terms of fixing the shortfall. Production problems are NOT something anyone can simply point at and say "MAKE IT SO, Number One."

Joss

-- Joss Metadi (warhammer@Pride.of.Mandeyne), February 05, 2000.


An earlier thread "Interesting WSJ Take on Oil" by Rocky dated February 3, 2000 discussed several options that could have been used to avoid these impacts. The homeowner could have contracted with the local dealer for x gallons at y price for delivery at a future date, the fuel oil distributor could have bought oil ahead of need and locked in the price but this option would require him to store it, or the distributor could have purchased options for future delivery. The low prices last winter lulled people into assuming that the prices would remain low. This is very similar to Y2k. Two per cent prepared and the preparations were not needed NOW. The other 98% did not prepare and are bitching and moaning that the prices have doubled. The customers screwed up. They could have locked in the lower prices. They did not. Let this be a warning for next year. If you rely on fuel oil or kerosene, contract with your dealer in the spring or summer for a supply so that he can contract with his supplier. The Government blew it too. Mr. Kennedy does not understand Economics 101 that this is a supply and demand problem that was made worse by refinery problems that were obviously not Y2k related. Routine maintenance, cold weather and other weak excuses were offered. Do we believe them?

-- Moe (Moe@3stooges.gom), February 05, 2000.

Moe-

Only a few Oil Dealers offer locked in rates for their retail customers. Only one or two (LEVEL comes to mind) propane dealers offer this service.

chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 05, 2000.



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