Our Opinion: High heat, utility costs endangering state’s poor
by Tucson Citizen on Aug. 02, 2008, under OpinionA bill to help low-income Arizonans and others survive extreme heat has stalled in the U.S. Senate – a troubling development as energy costs soar.
The legislation would add $2.5 billion to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, nearly doubling LIHEAP funds.
That’s critical for Arizona, where more than 400 people died over the past decade because of extreme heat.
But even Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl joined fellow Republicans to block the bill after Democratic leader Harry Reid refused to allow a vote on offshore oil drilling legislation.
(Arizona Sen. John McCain, who was at his cabin near Sedona, missed the LIHEAP vote.)
We agree that Congress needs to address the controversial issue of offshore drilling.
But we regret that the battle over oil drilling has come between low-income Arizonans and the opportunity to provide them with federal help on utility costs.
Kyl knows this problem well. On July 21, well before the Senate vote, he wrote a letter urging Health & Human Services to release emergency money to help needy Arizonans survive the heat.
The state received only $8.7 million this year – 0.4 percent of the $2.47 billion in LIHEAP funds, the senator noted.
While LIHEAP long has focused on helping poor people in freezing climates, Kyl and other Sun Belt leaders know that extreme heat can be just as deadly.
But Kyl said giving in to Reid on offshore drilling would be to admit defeat.
While senators from both parties tried this week to set another LIHEAP vote, the effort appeared doomed.
If the Senate cannot enact this funding bill, then the full Arizona congressional delegation should join Kyl in pushing for more funding for our state this year.
HHS has $120 million more in emergency utility money to dole out before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30 – and poor Arizona families need money to continue and even restore cooling.
Contrary to popular belief, heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer in the U.S., resulting in more deaths than are caused by tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and lightning combined, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tucson has recorded eight consecutive summers of above-normal temperatures, and this summer likely will continue that streak, the National Weather Service advises.
Phoenix temperatures have been at or above 110 degrees for 15 days in the past month, and 36 percent more families are having trouble paying their utility bills, Kyl’s office reports.
As temperatures rise and the economy falters, vulnerable Arizonans’ survival well may hinge on getting help.
