“In these difficult economic times, it is important now, more than ever that no one ever has decide between heating their home and feeding their family,” said Delahunt. “As temperatures continue to drop, I am pleased to join with Joe Kennedy and Citizens Energy to announce that this program will continue to help hundreds of thousands of families by providing discounted home heating oil in 2009.”
Today’s decision follows a recent announcement that the Venezuelan oil company Citgo Petroleum Corp. had suspended contributions to the discount heating program as a result of plunging oil prices and the global economic crisis. Delahunt and Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) wrote late last month to President Hugo Chavez asking that the Venezuelan government reconsider their decision.
Delahunt’s involvement with the program began in 2005 when he brokered a first-in-the-nation discount oil deal with the CITGO Petroleum Corporation for low-income Massachusetts households. The program has since expanded providing assistance to 23 states. CITGO is the only of the 5 major oil companies that has agreed to provide discounted heating oil to the public.
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