Biden's Next Crisis: Home Heating Oil Rationing Begins in NE

[leilani]

Biden's Next Crisis: Home Heating Oil Rationing Begins in Northeast, and It's Not Even Winter Yet

BY RYAN LEDENDECKER 5:52 PM ON OCTOBER 23, 2022





It looks like Joe Biden might get his winter of death after all, and it’s not because of the unvaccinated.



If you live in the Northeast, you know that even in normal times, heating oil bills constitute a significant expense because winters are usually brutal. Unfortunately, this year could be the worst year ever for residents of the region hoping to adequately heat their homes. Not only are heating oil prices through the roof on anti-fossil fuel President Joe Biden’s watch, but even for those who have the funds to stock up, it doesn’t really matter: heating oil rationing is already taking place.



Rationing. Like toilet paper and baby formula rationing. Why is all this rationing happening on Biden’s watch? For the record, we never once worried about rationing under former President Donald Trump.



But the worst part about this unfolding crisis is that it’s not even winter.



According to a bombshell Bloomberg report:



The US Northeast is so short on heating oil that the fuel used to power home furnaces is being rationed even before the start of winter.



Some wholesalers in Connecticut are putting retailers on allocation, meaning they can only get a limited amount of fuel based on availability, according to Chris Herb, president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association, which represents around 600 family-owned retailers in the state. These retailers must in turn ration their customers.



Bloomberg’s data matches what former Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, told radio talk show host Howie Carr this week, in that the heating oil shortage situation in the Northeast is beyond frightening and a genuine cause for concern. LePage essentially begged current Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills to do something, anything, to bring attention to the situation before it’s too late and people start dying, while also blaming Biden for not properly addressing the issue.



“Today, just about an hour ago, we got information from a local oil dealer… oil right now, tonight at five o’clock, is $5.69. Kerosene is $6.69 a gallon. This is what we’re facing right now,” LePage said during the interview Friday.



He added, “Earlier this week, the president of the United States released 15 million barrels of crude oil, you know from the reserves, but he did not, he did not release any Northeast home heating oil reserve … we have a shortage, and prices going through the roof, and the governor of the state of Maine has yet to say a word about it.”



LePage urged “every listener” to call Gov. Mills’ office to leave their thoughts about the developing crisis, saying Mills needs to “get on the ball, and call President Biden, and tell him to release heating oil reserves for the Northeast because we are gonna have a tough winter, we have shortages, they’re predicting brownouts and blackouts, we are in desperate need for help.”



Related: Remember When Democrats Blocked Trump from Filling the Strategic Oil Reserve While Gas Was Cheap?



LePage and Carr discussed the reports of heating oil rationing taking place in Connecticut. LePage added that the same practice is already happening in Maine, and it’s still nowhere near his state’s coldest and most energy-demanding time of year.



“It’s already started in Maine,” LePage said of heating oil rationing. “If you order 100 gallons, they’ll deliver you 50 gallons; if you order 200 gallons, they’ll deliver 100 gallons. I’ve had some dealers tell me they’re forced to right now, because they don’t know, and they’re putting people on budgets because they know we’re gonna have another crisis in a month or so.”



According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), residential heating oil in the New England area, in March 2020, was about $2.87 per gallon. It held in that range or lower for the bulk of Trump’s presidency. Not long after Biden entered office, the price began to climb. As of October 17, the latest figure, it’s $5.70 per gallon.

The math of what it’s going to cost for residents of the region to heat their homes truly blew me away.



At current prices — and keep in mind, these prices are guaranteed to rise in the coming months as demand increases and supply decreases, probably significantly — the cost to fill the typical 275-gallon residential heating oil tank is about $1,567.



That amount of heating oil, according to Shipley Energy, lasts the average home about 56 days — less than two months, but let’s call it two months. Folks, that’s $783 per month for heating oil alone, and that’s at the current rate, which will probably soon seem cheap. And that’s if you can find it.



Oh, and what happens in three months, in the dead of winter, when inflation is even higher, unemployment is up, and nobody can afford expensive heating oil bills? Some will inevitably have to decide whether to heat their home or buy groceries. Either sacrifice will undoubtedly cause this winter to be one of sickness and death, just how Biden likes it.

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