Post by Okwes on Jan 29, 2008 17:44:57 GMT -5
Note from Steph - According to sources on Pine Ridge, the Citgo Oil
assistance of $600,000 resulted in a one-time-only payment of approximately $200 for
heating assistance to the qualifying families. At $2 or more per gallon,
that would not even fill most propane tanks once. I am told that it is about
the same arrangement for the Federal LHEAP/Tribal Assistance Program.
**************************************
Rapid City Journal
www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/01/25/news/top/doc47982a639bb529
24302023.txt
Warmth a precious commodity for reservation homes
Low incomes battle high energy costs
By Andrea J. Cook, Journal staff
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wearing sweaters, cooking pizzas in a toaster oven and turning down the
water heater are not popular rules at Aldena Pretty Weasel's Eagle Butte home,
but they are necessary steps the single mother of six and grandmother has taken
to conserve propane.
With propane at $2.05 a gallon, Pretty Weasel estimates that it's costing
her almost $400 a month to heat her rented home.
"It's a continual worry," Pretty Weasel said. "You try to keep your heat
down all day, but you go home, and it's cold, and you have to put your heat up.
It's hard; it's really hard."
At home, everyone wears a sweater and wraps up in blankets.
An electric space heater helps take the chill off her granddaughter's
bedroom.
The arrival of much colder Canadian air this week was the last thing Pretty
Weasel needed.
If her heating costs go much higher, she'll be forced to make some hard
choices.
"I will have to let a few things go," she said. "There's nothing else I can
do.
But, compared to many people on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation,
where 50 percent of the people live below the poverty level, Pretty Weasel
says she is fortunate.
"I worry about the people who don't have a job," she said.
Joe Brings Plenty, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, talks with
people almost daily who are living on $200 to $300 a month.
Brings Plenty recently alerted his tribal council that additional financial
resources may be needed to help people make it through the winter.
"The prices and fuel isn't helping out any either," Brings Plenty said. "The
remainder of this coming winter is a bad time for some of our folks."
The tribe has already exhausted its allocation of Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program funding and a $470,000 grant from CITGO Petroleum Corp.
through the Citizens Energy Corporation, is almost exhausted, Brings Plenty said.
"It will maybe last us another week or two, but we still have the month of
February, and the month of March is going to be cold, too," Brings Plenty
said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced that South
Dakota is receiving an additional $3.3 million in Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program funds, which includes $578,428 for South Dakota's nine tribes.
A CITGO donation has also picked up the slack on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation, according to Robert Running Bear, data coordinator for the Oglala
Sioux Tribe.
The tribe received more than $600,000 from CITGO, he said. Those funds were
given to the nine tribal district government centers for distribution.
"My energy assistance money, I've reached the end now," Running Bear said
about the Low Income Home Energy Assistance funds.
Running Bear used $700,400 of those funds.
"We were hit hard and spent that," he said. So far 2,403 families have
received the low-income fund assistance.
The announcement of the additional funds was welcome news.
Running Strong For America Youth will match Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program funds with up to $5,000 for each of Pine Ridge's nine districts.
Last year, the program helped 1,030 families, according to Lauren Haas
Finkelstein, Running Strong's executive director.
At Eagle Butte, the Cheyenne River Youth Project's office was swamped with
members applying for heating assistance Jan. 15, which was the first day of
their heating-assistance program.
For the past seven years, Running Strong has offered member families a
fuel-assistance matching grant. Families can pay up to $100, and Running Strong
will match their payment. Last year, the program helped 300 families.
"Within the first 15 minutes, five people came in," executive director Julie
Garreau said. "With propane costs at $2.05, $100 doesn't go that far."
It's a difficult time for everyone, said J.C. Williams, manager of Cheyenne
River Gas, a division of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority.
With rising fuel costs, the tribally owned gas company requires a $150
minimum order before a truck will deliver to outlying communities, Williams said.
Unlike some propane suppliers, who have increased some charges because of
escalating fuel costs, the tribal company does not charge an individual minimum
delivery requirement and after hours and weekend deliveries continue.
Recognizing that higher fuel costs and propane costs are tough on everyone,
Williams tries to accommodate his customers.
"When it's as cold as it is and winter has settled in, we're out in those
communities every day," Williams said.
For residents of the Pine Ridge reservation, the only local propane supplier
is Lakota Plains Propane in Kyle, which requires a minimum order of $120 or
53 gallons.
For small orders, the cost of propane is higher: $2.15 a gallon for
deliveries of $199 or less. For those able to spend $200 or more, the price is
$2.05.7.
For many of Williams' customers, scraping together the money for 50 gallons
is a struggle that never ends.
"At 8 to 13 gallons a day, 50 gallons lasts three to five days," he said.
Especially, in drafty, poorly insulated homes, such as Iyonne Garreau's
Eagle Butte home.
"I'm suffering from this; $200 is getting me what $100 used to get me," she
said. "My house is big and old, and it never was insulated properly."
Each reservation has a program to provide firewood for homes that burn wood,
but wood heaters are prohibited in some housing projects.
Like Pretty Weasel, many families use space heaters as a supplemental heat
source -- which, in turn, raises their electric bills, causing them to fall
further behind, Williams said.
For families living in poverty, it becomes a choice between food, staying
warm and other necessities.
"They're never beyond the economics of figuring out how to pay the bills,"
Julie Garreau said. "It's a balancing act: Do my kids go without? There are
always choices like that to be made."
Running Bear's biggest concern is what will happen if a severe storm hits
the reservation. Economic conditions are so bad on the reservation that many
people are just getting by and barely meeting their basic needs, he said.
"It's an ongoing war. They rely a lot on us and other programs to try and
help them through," he said. "We're in dire straits."
Tribal Low Income Home Energy Assistance
2007 Base Funding, compared to contingency funding
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe: $357,148, $91,742
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe: $48,126, $12,362
Oglala Sioux Tribe: $739,625, $189,990
Rosebud Sioux Tribe: $582,581, $149,649
Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe: $235,566, $60,511
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (N.D.): $146,912, $37,738
Yankton Sioux Tribe: $141,846 $36,436
Total: $2,251,804, $578,428
(The above tribes administer their federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance
Program funding. The Flandreau and Crow Creek Sioux Tribes do not. Those
areas are covered by the South Dakota Department of Social Services-Office of
Energy Assistance.)
This is not spam. You have received this email because of some indication
you have given me that you wish to be on my mailing lists. If you no longer
wish to be included, simply reply to this email with "Remove" in the subject
line. No hard feelings.
-Stephanie M. Schwartz
Freelance Writer _www.SilvrDrach.homestead.com_
(http://www.SilvrDrach.homestead.com)
Member, Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)
Volunteer, Link Center Foundation _www.linkcenterfoundation.org_
(http://www.linkcenterfoundation.org/)
assistance of $600,000 resulted in a one-time-only payment of approximately $200 for
heating assistance to the qualifying families. At $2 or more per gallon,
that would not even fill most propane tanks once. I am told that it is about
the same arrangement for the Federal LHEAP/Tribal Assistance Program.
**************************************
Rapid City Journal
www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/01/25/news/top/doc47982a639bb529
24302023.txt
Warmth a precious commodity for reservation homes
Low incomes battle high energy costs
By Andrea J. Cook, Journal staff
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wearing sweaters, cooking pizzas in a toaster oven and turning down the
water heater are not popular rules at Aldena Pretty Weasel's Eagle Butte home,
but they are necessary steps the single mother of six and grandmother has taken
to conserve propane.
With propane at $2.05 a gallon, Pretty Weasel estimates that it's costing
her almost $400 a month to heat her rented home.
"It's a continual worry," Pretty Weasel said. "You try to keep your heat
down all day, but you go home, and it's cold, and you have to put your heat up.
It's hard; it's really hard."
At home, everyone wears a sweater and wraps up in blankets.
An electric space heater helps take the chill off her granddaughter's
bedroom.
The arrival of much colder Canadian air this week was the last thing Pretty
Weasel needed.
If her heating costs go much higher, she'll be forced to make some hard
choices.
"I will have to let a few things go," she said. "There's nothing else I can
do.
But, compared to many people on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation,
where 50 percent of the people live below the poverty level, Pretty Weasel
says she is fortunate.
"I worry about the people who don't have a job," she said.
Joe Brings Plenty, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, talks with
people almost daily who are living on $200 to $300 a month.
Brings Plenty recently alerted his tribal council that additional financial
resources may be needed to help people make it through the winter.
"The prices and fuel isn't helping out any either," Brings Plenty said. "The
remainder of this coming winter is a bad time for some of our folks."
The tribe has already exhausted its allocation of Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program funding and a $470,000 grant from CITGO Petroleum Corp.
through the Citizens Energy Corporation, is almost exhausted, Brings Plenty said.
"It will maybe last us another week or two, but we still have the month of
February, and the month of March is going to be cold, too," Brings Plenty
said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced that South
Dakota is receiving an additional $3.3 million in Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program funds, which includes $578,428 for South Dakota's nine tribes.
A CITGO donation has also picked up the slack on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation, according to Robert Running Bear, data coordinator for the Oglala
Sioux Tribe.
The tribe received more than $600,000 from CITGO, he said. Those funds were
given to the nine tribal district government centers for distribution.
"My energy assistance money, I've reached the end now," Running Bear said
about the Low Income Home Energy Assistance funds.
Running Bear used $700,400 of those funds.
"We were hit hard and spent that," he said. So far 2,403 families have
received the low-income fund assistance.
The announcement of the additional funds was welcome news.
Running Strong For America Youth will match Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program funds with up to $5,000 for each of Pine Ridge's nine districts.
Last year, the program helped 1,030 families, according to Lauren Haas
Finkelstein, Running Strong's executive director.
At Eagle Butte, the Cheyenne River Youth Project's office was swamped with
members applying for heating assistance Jan. 15, which was the first day of
their heating-assistance program.
For the past seven years, Running Strong has offered member families a
fuel-assistance matching grant. Families can pay up to $100, and Running Strong
will match their payment. Last year, the program helped 300 families.
"Within the first 15 minutes, five people came in," executive director Julie
Garreau said. "With propane costs at $2.05, $100 doesn't go that far."
It's a difficult time for everyone, said J.C. Williams, manager of Cheyenne
River Gas, a division of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority.
With rising fuel costs, the tribally owned gas company requires a $150
minimum order before a truck will deliver to outlying communities, Williams said.
Unlike some propane suppliers, who have increased some charges because of
escalating fuel costs, the tribal company does not charge an individual minimum
delivery requirement and after hours and weekend deliveries continue.
Recognizing that higher fuel costs and propane costs are tough on everyone,
Williams tries to accommodate his customers.
"When it's as cold as it is and winter has settled in, we're out in those
communities every day," Williams said.
For residents of the Pine Ridge reservation, the only local propane supplier
is Lakota Plains Propane in Kyle, which requires a minimum order of $120 or
53 gallons.
For small orders, the cost of propane is higher: $2.15 a gallon for
deliveries of $199 or less. For those able to spend $200 or more, the price is
$2.05.7.
For many of Williams' customers, scraping together the money for 50 gallons
is a struggle that never ends.
"At 8 to 13 gallons a day, 50 gallons lasts three to five days," he said.
Especially, in drafty, poorly insulated homes, such as Iyonne Garreau's
Eagle Butte home.
"I'm suffering from this; $200 is getting me what $100 used to get me," she
said. "My house is big and old, and it never was insulated properly."
Each reservation has a program to provide firewood for homes that burn wood,
but wood heaters are prohibited in some housing projects.
Like Pretty Weasel, many families use space heaters as a supplemental heat
source -- which, in turn, raises their electric bills, causing them to fall
further behind, Williams said.
For families living in poverty, it becomes a choice between food, staying
warm and other necessities.
"They're never beyond the economics of figuring out how to pay the bills,"
Julie Garreau said. "It's a balancing act: Do my kids go without? There are
always choices like that to be made."
Running Bear's biggest concern is what will happen if a severe storm hits
the reservation. Economic conditions are so bad on the reservation that many
people are just getting by and barely meeting their basic needs, he said.
"It's an ongoing war. They rely a lot on us and other programs to try and
help them through," he said. "We're in dire straits."
Tribal Low Income Home Energy Assistance
2007 Base Funding, compared to contingency funding
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe: $357,148, $91,742
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe: $48,126, $12,362
Oglala Sioux Tribe: $739,625, $189,990
Rosebud Sioux Tribe: $582,581, $149,649
Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe: $235,566, $60,511
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (N.D.): $146,912, $37,738
Yankton Sioux Tribe: $141,846 $36,436
Total: $2,251,804, $578,428
(The above tribes administer their federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance
Program funding. The Flandreau and Crow Creek Sioux Tribes do not. Those
areas are covered by the South Dakota Department of Social Services-Office of
Energy Assistance.)
This is not spam. You have received this email because of some indication
you have given me that you wish to be on my mailing lists. If you no longer
wish to be included, simply reply to this email with "Remove" in the subject
line. No hard feelings.
-Stephanie M. Schwartz
Freelance Writer _www.SilvrDrach.homestead.com_
(http://www.SilvrDrach.homestead.com)
Member, Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)
Volunteer, Link Center Foundation _www.linkcenterfoundation.org_
(http://www.linkcenterfoundation.org/)