Energy aid for low-income households - winter's a'comin'

joseph p. kennedy ll, chairman of citizens energy corp. (and, presumably, since he's writing in the boston globe, a member of THE kennedy family), has this to say about windfall energy profits... (please note, he's NOT volunteering any of HIS company's windfall profits...)

THE HUGE run-ups in energy prices have created record profits for oil and gas companies, refiners, shippers, and other players in the energy industry.

What may surprise many people is that one of the principal beneficiaries of the price spikes is the US government. When energy costs soar, the federal treasury sees massive infusions of royalties from energy companies for oil and gas extracted from federal lands and waters.

While the government collects a windfall, the poor just reap the cold. The federal treasury should not be making money off of elderly Americans and working families shivering in their homes during the winter.

It's time that every cent of unearned windfall goes toward fuel assistance for the poor. Using $25 a barrel as a baseline -- the mid-range of OPEC's preferred price band for crude oil -- the federal government ought to channel royalties collected on higher prices into energy aid for low-income households.

i remember a bumper sticker proudly displayed by texans during the energy crisis of the 70's referring to the northern states - "let the bastards freeze in the dark..." all it will take is one or two elderly folks freezing to death in their apartments where the utilities have been cut off for non-payment because they were too poor and government energy aid was insufficient to pay the bills to add yet another scandal to the scandalous bush administration...

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