As the nation’s largest online propane marketplace, Propane.pro, has seen first hand the personal and economic damage wrought by the recent propane shortage. The company’s founder, Andrew Heaney, is calling on the Federal Government to fund the creation of a Strategic Propane Reserve to ensure a dangerous shortage never happens again.
“In 2000, the Northeast US experienced a similar shortage of heating oil due to extreme temperatures and frozen waterways that prevented the delivery of product to the region,” Heaney remarked today, “the Clinton administration and Congress responded with the creation of a Strategic Heating Oil Reserve that continues to provide consumers with reliable supply to this day,” he continued, “propane consumers demand and deserve the same level of safety that a Strategic Propane Reserve would provide.”
Propane is a flexible fuel that consumers and businesses use for everything from space heating to grilling and cooking. Roughly 8,000,000 US households rely on it for home heating making the recent combination of frigid weather and a supply disruption a potential public health emergency.
In addition, with wholesale prices surging in the Midwest and elsewhere, propane delivery companies and consumers are being hammered with outrageous costs for their fuel. “A Strategic Propane Reserve would not only protect health and property, but would be a boon to the economy long term by providing more stable fuel prices for consumers and businesses,” Heaney says.
Heaney also points out that the United States exported a record amount of propane this year as producers sought higher prices for their product abroad. ‘The tragedy of this situation is the United States has never produced as much propane as it does now with all the natural gas exploration that we have in the US,” Heaney remarked, “this didn’t need to happen, and it should never be allowed to happen again.”