Snowe upset with lack of LIHEAP funding

Maine has received nearly 85 percent less funding for the emergency low-income home energy assistance program so far this year compared to last year, and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe is calling on the Obama administration to explain why it decided to change how the funding is distributed.

The Pine Tree State has received $4.7 million in emergency LIHEAP money, compared to $29.7 million last year, according to a recent release from Snowe's office.

"I am deeply troubled by the methodology used to determine the release of emergency funds for this program," Snowe said in a statement. "This year alone, we have seen a radical difference in the amount of funding that was distributed to certain states and this was based on logic that demonstrates a lack of understanding of the intent of the LIHEAP program." 

The LIHEAP program helps many low-income and elderly Mainers pay for heat throughout the winter.

The new formula for releasing emergency funding is based on the difference in temperature from historical levels. As a result, $40 million has been distributed to 14 Southern states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.

Those states received funding because their winter temperatures have been cooler than usual, but states that are routinely much colder, such as Alaska, Minnesota and Maine, have received no additional emergency funding.

Snowe also is upset about Obama's decision to cut overall LIHEAP funding by $1.8 billion from last year's level.

"Given our perilous economic state, with unemployment at 10 percent in our country, I am deeply concerned by the president's decision," she said. "Energy prices remain higher than historical levels and the increase in unemployment has drastically increased the reliance on this program for thousands of additional families."

Snowe and her colleague, Sen. Susan Collins, and 20 other senators wrote a letter to the president in late January, asking for an explanation of the methodology and requesting the release of additional emergency funds.

"The rationale behind (the administration's) allocations is unclear, although it is evident that most cold-weather states saw significant cuts," the letter said.

The letter also informed the president that oil is the only heating fuel that is projected to cost more per household this winter than last, according to a January 2010 report. Households relying on heating oil in the Northeast are expected to spend an average of about $2,000 this winter to heat their homes.

For more information on the program in Maine, visit www.mainehousing.org/LIHEAP.aspx.

rmetzler@sunjournal.com