Commentary

Prices at the pump fuel interest in new energy alternatives
Guest Column
Rep. Mark Bryant

Last weekend I moved my oldest son, Noah, into his apartment for his senior year at the University of Maine at Orono. We've been moving him to and from school for the last six years because he did his last two years of high school at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone. So we've become pretty adept at packing his belongings into our cars and making the move in as few trips as possible.

What made this year different, besides the nervous pit in my stomach when I realized that after this year he'll be officially grown up with a college degree, was the price of gas traveling from Windham to Orono. Paying over $3 per gallon was not in our budget for the trip. But like all the other parents helping their kids move in, we grudgingly paid it.

Governor Baldacci and Attorney General G. Steven Rowe have issued warnings about price gouging, and are taking aggressive steps to investigate any allegations. Further, the Governor's Office of Energy Independence and Security is negotiating with the Maine Oil Dealer's Association to keep prices manageable.

The Office of Energy Independence and Security says that consumers can save $1 per gallon with some standard procedures. Keeping your car tuned up reduces fuel usage by 20 percent, and maintaining proper tire pressure improves fuel economy by another 5 percent. Obeying the speed limit, avoiding quick stops and starts, and not idling also conserve fuel and account for another 5 percent of gas usage.

Over the past few legislative sessions, several bills have been successful in working to promote the use of alternatives to fossil fuels. Last year, a tax incentive program was created for producers of biodiesel, a new type of fuel that sounds like something out of the movie "Back to the Future." Biodiesel is a home-grown energy source produced from byproducts of recycled restaurant cooking oil, wood chips, potatoes, and forest scrub brush.

It can be used to power cars and heat homes, and even helps heat the State House and its state office building. Currently, there are a few biodiesel production sites across the state, and it is thought that some of our closed mills can be converted to biodiesel production centers.

This session, we passed a rebate program for Maine residents who install solar energy units on homes and businesses. Solar hot-water systems can cut annual oil consumption by one-third, and solar energy systems can avoid using electricity generated with natural gas or oil. The solar energy industry is expected to create 40,000 jobs in the United States over the next decade.

Looking ahead a few months, I am very concerned about how the price of home heating oil will affect people. The federal government offers the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and it is administered in Cumberland County by the People's Regional Opportunity Program (PROP). Last year, over 150 households in Windham and Gray qualified for assistance, which also includes free weatherization of homes in a partnership with the Maine State Housing Authority.

LIHEAP is an excellent program, but the federal government has made major cuts over the past few years, so assistance is limited. Prior to this year, the program did not permit its recipients to enter into budget plans with oil companies or buy oil in bulk. We in the Maine Legislature have fixed this problem to some extent. My fellow Democrats and I pushed for legislation to correct this major flaw on the state level. Since the program is still getting off the ground, we could not force oil dealers to participate, but the state is working with the Maine Oil Dealer's Association to get as many companies as possible to offer this help to low-income people.