Clinton Gets It Wrong on Heating Oil

by John MacKenna

Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is pledging to use government grants to move heating oil customers to other fuels.

The former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State is floating an energy policy plan that she says will create jobs, reduce pollution and help Americans save money. The six-page plan includes many initiatives, such as improving building standards and reducing energy costs for low-income households.

One of the initiatives is actually called “Phase Out Heating Oil.” The policy paper states, “High cost and polluting fuel oil and propane are still used for home heating in much of the country. In New Hampshire, for example, nearly 70% of all families heat their homes with oil products. This not only makes household budgets vulnerable to price spikes but also contributes to local air pollution and increases U.S. dependence on oil. Clinton will award challenge grants to cities and states that replace oil-fueled residential and commercial boilers and furnaces with cleaner alternatives, such as New York City’s successful PlanNYC program.”

Evidently Clinton has not been keeping up on her energy news.

New York City has embraced ultra low sulfur Bioheat® Fuel and is looking now to increase the biodiesel blend rate from 2 percent to 5 percent. She apparently has not seen the National Oilheat Research Alliance study that shows that ultra low sulfur heating oil blended with biodiesel burns cleaner than natural gas. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Energy know that fuel switching is a pointless boondoggle, but candidate Clinton apparently missed that development. Maybe she does not know that the California Air Resources Board considers biodiesel an excellent replacement for petroleum.

New England Fuel Institute and its companion trade associations are planning to set the record straight in New Hampshire to counteract the damage that Clinton wreaks with her misguided policy plans.

Related Posts