Citgo Halts Heating Oil Donations To Poor

Program To Provide Heat To 400,000 U.S. Households Suspended By Venezuelan-Controlled Company

(AP)  Citgo has suspended its free heating oil program for low-income residents, Citizens Energy Chairman Joseph Kennedy announced Monday.

Kennedy said the Venezuelan government's Texas-based oil subsidiary cited falling oil prices and the world economic crisis for forcing the company to reevaluate all of its social programs, including the heating oil program aimed at 400,000 households in 16 states.

The program, started in 2005 with Citizens Energy, a nonprofit headed by Kennedy, sent 100 gallons of free oil a year to eligible households.

"It remains unclear how long this postponement, if it is one, will last," Kennedy said in a statement on the Citizens Energy Web site. "All of us at Citizens Energy continue to do everything we can to advocate for a continuation of this vital assistance."

Citgo donated 100 million gallons last year, according to Citizens Energy.

A news conference was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Citizens Energy's Boston's headquarters to discuss the suspension of the program.

Kennedy urged those who have been helped by the program to write Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to share their stories. Kennedy said that Citizens Energy will continue to run heating assistance programs for now.

Citizens Energy was founded by Kennedy in 1979 in the wake of the energy crisis of the late 1970s with the goal of reducing the cost of home heating oil for the poor and elderly.

Kennedy drew fire from critics of Chavez when he began the fuel assistance program with Citgo. Critics charged that Chavez, a socialist and staunch U.S. critic who famously called President Bush "the devil," was using the heating oil program as propaganda.

Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., accused Kennedy of working with "a sworn enemy of the United States" and betraying the legacy of President John F. Kennedy, his uncle, who spoke of the perils of communism.

Kennedy responded that critics should hold oil-exporting countries and other trade partners, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and China, to the same standards.

Boycot Citgo.....I am. Actually I have been boycotting Citgo since I found out they get their gas from that low life Chavez.....

[gramto8]

Mitch,
That makes a lot of sense.... NOT! Why boycott someone who has helped so many of our country, especially when our own so-called president has sold us out to big oil and other rich folks? Let me guess, you voted for Dubya both times, didn''t you? That is why you don''t want Citgo to help any of our fellow countrymen/women.

[Theroux]

I go out of my way to buy Citgo gas! Once again it''s all about the United States attempting to smash govenments like Venezuela and Cuba (those evil Socialists), while we prop up countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia and yes even Israel while turing a blind eye to the injustice that is happening. People wake up, Socialism is NOT the same as communism! Look up the definition - read a little history for yourself!

[whitemale08]

This is bad news for American families.

For years we''ve allowed neocons and junkyard dogs like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh demonize countries like Venezuela.

Venezuela is probably one of the richest countries with natural resources in the western hemisphere.

We''ve squandered our wealth, and restricted the use of our own natural resources for the sake of ''globalization'' and the British Financial Empire which is collapsing.

Now the U.S. will have to go back to the status as an ''emerging-market'' or ''developing country'' unless we decide on a new Bretton Woods treaty of fixed-exchange-rates.

That will allow all nations to develop on their own with their own ''national-self-interest'' to keep their own culture and dignity in tact.

No more of this British/English only influence around the world where countries are exploited in exchange for worthless paper Federal Reserve Notes.

If we continue to pretend that ''we are rich'' and the rest of the world is ''poor'' then we will continue to learn as this article is showing, that these countries can stop sending us aid, stop funding our debt and leave us to rot and detiorate back to the stone age.

It''s our choice America, let''s pull our collective heads out from between our butt cheeks and do the right thing.

[nomealaska]

I pay almost $6/gallon for heating oil, and many residents of rural Alaska pay over $9/gallon. The CITGO program really helped our area out last year. I am not a freeloader, and resent that stupid remark. We are still paying $4.99 for gasoline, and this is the price we pay until next summer. You enjoy all of your cheap gas down there...

If Chavez really is so bad, then take his oil for free and make him poor. Ya never watched "Trading Places"?

[hatesthecolt]

Indifferent to Chevez & Citgo, its the poor that gets hurt and have to suffer. The Bush administration has done absolutely nothing to help or provide for the poor and elderly -


Posted by zoe-2009

Didn''t you get the memo? These people are supposed to be pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps or looking to "faith based charities" (apparently meaning pray for help and if none is forthcoming, you probably weren''t "Christian" enough to earn it). In any event, no fair asking Uncle Sam for help; we rich people''s taxes are already too high!

[hatesthecolt]

zoe-2009, I was being facetious. I agree that Bush has done nothing for the poor except run them into the ground or try to foist it off not private charitable institutions.

[hatesthecolt]

zoe-2009, I was being facetious. I agree that Bush has done nothing for the poor except run them into the ground or try to foist it off not private charitable institutions.

[walt1944-2009]

In an effort to keep ALL of its PROFITS onto itself, Citgo has announced it will no longer "donate" heating oil to 400,000 poor homes in the USSA.

The company, which is owned by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, has decided that exercising the rare attribute of "charity" is making it unable to pay its corporate executives the high pay and bonuses they have grown used to over the past 8 years.

Even Hugo Chavez'' government has been forced to cut back, being unable to provide the visiting Russian military with the vodka and caviar they are used to.

SIG HEIL, I''LL SHOW HIM TO CALL ME "EL DIABLO"!!!, BUSH!!!

[toolmangler-2009]

oh yes...sis I mention that it`s WARM down here?
Posted by DaVicar3 at 04:33 PM : Jan 05, 2009



H3ll is a very warm place I hear. ;)

[usedeqbroker]

Chavez... we need nothing he has and I hope he strangles on his own oil...

[nomealaska]

It''s great up here in Alaska. You can have your "warm weather", state taxes, traffic, and electronic gadgets! We do get revenue from investments from our oil industry, so what? Our girls may not wear bikinis, but they kick *** (all but Sarah...anyway)!

[mrahaman-2009]

Venezuela owns CITGO and yes Chavez controls it, so what? Our Govt can send $10 billion a year as welfare to Israel who continues to occupy Palestine and is now killing hundreds of Palestinians (Show me who Chavez killed) but we cannot even help our own people here. Remember a hurricane called Katrina? Don''t blame Chavez... Blame our Govt for spending hundreds of Billions of Dollars on an Illegal war, whiel people here in USofA go hungry and have no heat.

[joncmac-2009]

While bad news on program ending, for those who still need help, I found this site which gave some ways and programs that give people aid and help save on heating and utility bills. Help is provided both from the gov''t and utility companies themselves. Also, find help for other bills, such as mortgage and credit cards. Also, find ways to get help with other bills, including mortgage. http://needhelppayingbills.com/html/need_help_with_electric_bills.html

[shanev137]

Chavez... we need nothing he has and I hope he strangles on his own oil...

Posted by usedeqbroker at 05:17 PM : Jan 05, 2009

---------


I highly doubt that anyone who used his 100 million barrels of free heating oil here in the US would agree with you.

[excoachken]

Once again, Big Oil comes through in the clutch.

[debinok1]

The rest of Americans don''''t get a check each year from oil companies so why should you?

Posted by d7767w
*******************
Anyone who owns the mineral rights to their property has the opportunity to lease those rights to an oil or natural gas company and receive a royalty check. That goes for anywhere in the U.S. as long as you dont mind having a oil or natural gas derrick in your yard and having the workers tramp through your property at any time of day or night. Those royalty checks come with drawbacks.

[hitoyou11]

Citgo is only going to make 50B in 2009 not 52B they made in 2008. Everyone cry for them. The no good crooks. Talk about some people that need to be in JAIL.

[timothyone-2009]

Chavez is socialism, and socialism is an attempt at a fair and comprehensive distribution of a nation''s wealth, which is necessary if everyone in that nation is to have the opportunity to succeed. Capitalism is dog eat dog and let the poor and their children rot in the streets. (As long as they don''t block traffic or stink too much before the street sweepers drags them off to the glue factory.

[ginger20051]

A socialist stopping a program to help those in need? That can''t be true. The liberal democratic, socialist motto is "From each (Chavez) according to their ability - To each (the poor) according to their need". Did Chavez become a capitalist? Or did he give it all to the Russian navy for maneuvers in the Gulf of Mexico?
I wonder what the people who got the 100 million (really that much?) barrels of oil will say when Chevez and the Russian army are in the town square demanding payback?
Remember "There is no such thing as a free lunch".

[hitoyou11]

d7767w how long did it take you to become an idiot?

[nojoy01]

I highly doubt that anyone who used his 100 million barrels of free heating oil here in the US would agree with you.

Posted by shanev137 at 05:53 PM : Jan 05, 2009

Just in the interest of accuracy shanev137, here is a quote from the story. ''Citgo donated 100 million gallons last year, according to Citizens Energy.'' That means your figure is off by about 3.2 Billion gallons. But what the h3ll, who pays any attention to the facts on any of these Blogs?

That said, yup, 100 million gallons of free heating oil is about 300 million dollars worth of assistance more than any US based oil company gave to our citizens last winter.

[au_fait]

That said, yup, 100 million gallons of free heating oil is about 300 million dollars worth of assistance more than any US based oil company gave to our citizens last winter.


Posted by nojoy01

Actually you are wrong as Murphy Oil is paying 50 million in scholarships for the children of El Dorado, Arkansas. Murphy Oil is an american company.

[au_fait]

Our Govt can send $10 billion a year as welfare to Israel who continues to occupy Palestine and is now killing hundreds of Palestinians (Show me who Chavez killed) but we cannot even help our own people here.

Posted by Mrahaman

HMMM, maybe Palestine should have not broken the cease fire accord. Hamas chose this fight and instigated it after a cease fire agreement. I have no pity for those who get hurt or killed if they are harboring fighters.

[spinproof]

This fake "caring" program was a "Gambit" from the very beginning designed to divide our nation and Americans should never have been allowed to accept the offer directly from a foreign power in the first place. Now that the program did not achieve its desired objectives, the drop in oil prices is being used as an excuse to end it. New York''s Rep. Charles Rangel, 15th, threatened to end the program outright when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Pres. Bush a "Devil" on the floor of the United Nations but backed off when Chavez briefly shut up! Venezuela has plenty of oil and a drop in oil prices should not affect the stated intent of this program!

[easy3211]

dan_8951
Right on...

[cheetah-man7]

d7767w how long did it take you to become an idiot?


Posted by hitoyou11


Thanks, hitoyou11 - I was wondering the same exact thing about d7767w....

[nojoy01]

That said, yup, 100 million gallons of free heating oil is about 300 million dollars worth of assistance more than any US based oil company gave to our citizens last winter.

Posted by nojoy01

Actually you are wrong as Murphy Oil is paying 50 million in scholarships for the children of El Dorado, Arkansas. Murphy Oil is an american company.

Posted by au_fait at 11:21 PM : Jan 05, 2009

Always willing to learn and if/when in error to be enlightened. So now we are down to 250 million more in assistance than provided by US oil companies.

[nojoy01]

By the way, that is assistance for heating oil ''for the poor''

[omnibus66]

Given the relationship between the US and Venezuela, one wonders why this program ever existed at all.

And why all the uproar over Chavez speaking the truth about Bush?

[jrcolmena]

Given the relationship between the US and Venezuela, one wonders why this program ever existed at all.
And why all the uproar over Chavez speaking the truth about Bush? Posted by omnibus66

1) this program existed because chavez is obsessed about showing the world whatever is wrong about the US, instead of solving our own country''s problems (im venezuelan)
2) the problem is not chavez speaking the truth about bush, the problem is chavez being a populist demagoge just like castro who wants to stay in power for 50 years, who doesnt solve the problems of his own people but survives on picking a fight with other contries: Bush is Chavez''s Bin Laden

[bayside1022-2009]

This is the man our republican propaganda bush media would have us believe is a bad man. A man who has given our poor at cost or free gas. One good thing is we have woken up and you cant put that back in the bag..

[cadawa-2009]

Unfortunately, though commodity prices have declined, heating oil prices and natural gas have not. Rate payers are billed at the same inflated rates as they were before the bottom fell out.

[alarchdu]

This is unexpected?

[impeach_o]

chave''s oil program is a pretty cheap version of POLITICAL propaganda..


it takes a liberal kennedy to THINK THAT chavez DO CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY..

[quapawsix]

Welcome to the New World Order whats sad is our own oil companies would not donate a drop of oil to the poor so I''m glade they can afford to pay while the rest of us try to figure out do we feed our families this week or do we drive our cars or do we heat our homes tough choises.

[quapawsix]

Welcome to the New World Order whats sad is our own oil companies would not donate a drop of oil to the poor so I''m glade they can afford to pay while the rest of us try to figure out do we feed our families this week, or do we drive our cars to work, or do we heat our homes,or do we pay our credit card debt, tough choices.

[notfooled]

I find it comical that CBS wont let us comment on the recent story that Citgo has a figured a way to continue the help for the poor.

It must be quite irritating for the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate and their henchman worldwide to have the guy they paint as evil helping the poor.

[judysvan123]

CBS ..are you that $$$ HUNGRY that you take ads from CITGO in April ??