Citgo Halts Heating Oil Donations To Poor

(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.

[HeatingOilPrices]

This is just a horrible shame. Taking away heating oil from the poor. Although prices will be lower this year, we could still be hitting $3/gallon very soon, which is likely to cost at least $1500 for poor families over the winter if they want to have proper heat.

http://www.compareheatingoilprices.org

[judysvan123]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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..

[alarchdu]

This is unexpected?

[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.

[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..

[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