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Oil Heat Associations Unite to Fight High Energy Prices

NEW YORK, Apr. 21 /PRNewswire/ --

NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The New York Oil Heating Association (NYOHA) recently joined forces with the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island (OHILI) to create an advertorial with the purpose of persuading their constituents to contact Senators Clinton and Schumer and ask them to take action on oil and energy prices.

Entitled "Where's the Outrage?," the advertorial, which ran in the Daily News and Newsday on Monday, April 21, posed the question, "Are you sick and tired of paying these outrageous energy prices?," responding "We are and we know you are, too." The text then stated, "We're angry that investment banks, hedge funds and other speculators on energy commodities exchanges -- all of whom have nothing to do with the energy industry -- are driving up the price of oil and making a killing at the expense of consumers and the American economy."

NYOHA and OHILI asked Senators Clinton and Schumer, on behalf of their million plus customers in New York City and on Long Island, why no action had yet taken place to finally get financial speculators out of the commodities markets, citing that no press conference has taken place, no official statement offered and no legislation enacted. Though they appreciated the Senators' support of the "Close the Enron Loophole Act" (S.2058), NYOHA and OHILI member dealers felt that this was not enough. Stating that "we think it's time they took the Wall Street Bull by the horns," the two organizations urged consumers to call Senators Clinton and Schumer at their New York City and Long Island offices to say, "We want to see some action on oil and energy prices."

NYOHA and OHILI have been very active in combating higher Oilheat prices, sponsoring newspaper advertising and posting messages on their Web sites asking Oilheat consumers to write to their legislators in protest of market manipulation by commodities traders. According to John D. Maniscalco, NYOHA Executive Vice President, "the industry-constructed Web site, www.closetheenronloophole.com, generated almost 450,000 site visits and resulted in over 35,000 letters being generated to Capitol Hill since its inception."