UPDATE:When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on the weekend that he was going to open the taps on subsidized heating oil for poor folks in the United States, many assumed it was a drive-by comment aimed at raising the ire of his frequent critics in Washington.
But, as it turns out, Mr. Chavez is a man of his word.
Officials at Citgo Petroleum Corp. -- the Houston-based company that is wholly owned by Venezuela's state-owned energy company -- say they are scrambling to put the fine points on Mr. Chavez's promise to supply some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the United States with cheap heating oil this winter.
"The idea is to work with communities in need, with schools, and we'll have to work through not-for-profit organizations that will serve as intermediaries," public affairs manager Fernando Garay said.
"The very specific details, we don't have yet."
Russel, in the comments, provides a link to this article excerpted below to provide some contrast:
The Bush administration yesterday said it has no plans to ask Congress for additional funds to help low-income families and financially stretched seniors deal with rapidly escalating home heating bills.The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration is projecting that this winter's natural gas prices will run as much as 77 percent more than last winter in parts of the Midwest (Western Pennsylvania utilities predict increases of as much as 45 percent over last winter); home heating in the Northeast could rise by as much as 33 percent, while electricity in the South could go up 18 percent, the department's analysts said. That could mean that thousands of households won't be able to afford enough heat or electricity.
Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman yesterday touted a new "Energy Hog" campaign designed to persuade more Americans to conserve energy.
But he said asking Congress to increase money for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program "is not on the agenda" for the administration "at this point."
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