Issue Position: Home Heating Fuel -- Increased Costs for Upstate, Cost Breaks for New York City

Issue Position

In June, 2010, Senate Democrats approved legislation that would cause a dangerous shortage in the supply of home heating oil this winter, resulting in a huge increase in home heating costs for Upstate residents. At the same time, the Senate Democrats exempted the heating oil used in most New York City apartments, so residents there will not be subjected to the same cost increases.

The Senate Democrat legislation mandates the reduction of sulfur content in #2 heating oil but does not give refineries an adequate amount of time to meet the new requirement. It is estimated that this new mandate will result in an increase in the price of home heating fuel by 20 to 30 cents per gallon, costing Upstate consumers $1 billion. Consumers could be forced to pay 60 cents more during a particularly cold winter, costing the average Upstate family up to an additional $600 to heat their homes.

At the same time that Senate Democrats imposed this huge increase in home heating costs for Upstate, they exempted #6 heating oil from this mandated, which is primarily used in high rise apartment buildings in New York City

Amendments offered by Senate Republicans would have pushed the compliance date back by two years to provide adequate time for refineries to adopt the new standards and prevent a dangerous shortage in supply that would drastically increase costs for Upstate consumers -- but the amendments were rejected by Senate Democrats.

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