Fact of the Day: Friday, March 3, 2006 Increasing Supplies Is the Best Solution for Relieving Heating Fuel Costs for Disadvantaged Americans Northeasterners claim there is a need for increased spending on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) program to meet the needs of disadvantaged Americans during the winter months. Yesterday, the Senate voted in favor of waiving the Budget Act with regard to S. 2320, the pending LIHEAP bill currently being debated on the Senate floor. Under S. 2320, which changes the fiscal year for LIHEAP funding set under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 from FY 2007 to FY 2006, a number of states with qualifying households, particularly those in the southern and western regions of the United States, would lose a significant portion of their LIHEAP funding. Fact: Spending more on LIHEAP will not resolve the long-term problem of high heating fuel costs that challenges disadvantaged Americans every winter. Increasing supplies will. In Massachusetts, the siting of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, recently approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), has been consistently blocked. This new facility would help increase fuel supplies in the Northeast, and is estimated to result in a 20% reduction in the wholesale price of natural gas in the region. The latest delay comes in the form of a SAFETEA provision, authored by two Massachusetts House Democrats, intended to keep a bridge originally designated for demolition open, effectively blocking access to the terminal from the Taunton River. Openings of other facilities in the region have been delayed, as well, reducing the opportunities for increased supplies that would translate to lower costs for Northeast consumers.