Gasoline and heating oil costs are bankrupting Maine families and crippling our small businesses. Since Hurricane Katrina first sent oil prices soaring three years ago, I have fought in Congress to pass legislation to drive down fuel costs and bring relief to families and to farmers, fishermen and others whose livelihoods depend on affordable fuel.

While the House has acted to punish price gougers and speculators who drive fuel costs up, the friends of “Big Oil” have stalled this legislation in the Senate. When Congress meets in September, fuel price relief will continue to be my top priority.

Wherever I go in Maine, families and small business owners tell me they are agonizing over how they will afford fuel in the winter ahead. Hundreds have written to me with their concerns. Here are just a few examples:

Patricia from Portland: “I work two jobs and I have been doing this for many years just to make ends meet. I learned that my payments [for home heating oil] were going from $132 per month to $346 per month.” Patricia will spend more than $4,000 dollars to heat her home this winter.

Amelia from Harrison: “I am a 16-year-old girl. My dad works three jobs and my mom works oneto pay for the constantly rising prices of gas food and oil. With my parents working four jobs, you would think we would have enough money to get by. We don’t.”

Michael from Topsham appealed on behalf of his 87-year-old father-in-law who lives alone in Auburn: “Last year, his oil fuel cost was approximately $6,400 for the entire year. He’s a retired Army Reserve Master Sergeant with 20 years of service. His annual expenditure for fuel oil [this year] would [likely] be approximately $10,200. This would consume 85 percent of his annual income of $12,000.”

Patricia, Amelia and Michael’s stories are just a few examples of the human toll from rapidly rising fuel prices.

Congress must act now, before winter sets in, to bring immediate relief in the short-term and put our nation on the path to future energy independence.

First, we must fully fund the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and weatherization programs, to help the poor, the disabled, and the elderly on fixed incomes.

Second, we must provide relief for middle class families fighting to make ends meet.

Recently, I introduced “The Home Heating Fuels Cost Relief Act,” which would provide a $1,000 refundable tax credit for individuals, $2,000 for families, towards the price of home heating oil, as well as a program to provide up to $10,000 in low interest loans for families to weatherize their homes.

I have also called for the release of 100 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to provide cost relief and to help stabilize the oil market.

Third, small businesses are the backbone of the economy in Maine and across America, but mounting fuel bills mean oceans of red ink on their balance sheets.

I have introduced The Small Business Fuel Cost Relief Act, to create a tax credit for eligible businesses for any amount they spend on fuel (including gasoline, diesel, natural gas and heating oil) above the price on Labor Day 2004, adjusted for inflation. My bill would also raise the IRS Standard Mileage Rate to 60 cents for vehicles used for business purposes.

Finally, we must have both a short-term strategy and long-range policies to make the U.S. independent of volatile foreign energy sources. The plan must include responsible development of domestic oil and natural gas resources.

Big Oil companies hold leases they have never exercised to drill for oil on more than 68 million acres here in the United States – an area more than three times the size of the state of Maine. We must require them to develop this domestic oil before they get any more leases.

But drilling alone cannot provide American consumers and businesses with the stable, affordable energy we will need to grow our economy and engender prosperity. We must also increase fuel economy standards, modernize our electric grid, and invest significant resources into research and development of new technologies that will free us from dependence on polluting fuels. Maine, with its bountiful wind, tide, biomass, and other energy resources, combined with its innovative workforce, can help lead our nation in turning this time of crisis into one of great opportunity.

Families and small businesses in Maine and across America work hard for the money they spend on fuel. They deserve leadership in Washington that will act now to bring immediate relief from rising gasoline and heating fuel prices. They demand a change in direction and a national energy policy that harnesses American ingenuity and entrepreneurship to slash dependence on foreign oil, maximize conservation and efficiency, perfect alternative fuels and technologies, and put America on the path to a sustainable, affordable energy future.

Rep. Tom Allen represents Maine’s First District in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.