The senators, three Democrats and two independents, said the region is heavily dependent on natural gas and feeling the impacts of the war in Ukraine and tight global energy supplies. They urged Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to leverage resources within her department to help bring non-fossil fuel energy online as quickly as possible in the region and to review any emergency powers that could be used to ensure energy needs are fulfilled without price spikes or supply disruptions.
The Energy Department said in a statement to The Associated Press that it’s closely monitoring winter fuel availability, especially if the weather is colder than expected, and preparing to address any resulting risks. It added that the region is expected to have sufficient energy during a mild to moderate winter and temperatures are expected to be warmer than average along the Atlantic coast.
Granholm held a virtual meeting with New England governors in September to discuss preparations to mitigate potential energy shortfalls this winter. She told them the administration will work with states to navigate the various risks to energy and electricity reliability and affordability. The conditions that cause controlled power outages are pretty extreme, he said, and they have plans and procedures aimed at trying to head off any outages before they happen.. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, is working on getting Congress to add more money in December to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, to make additional heating aid available for the winter. He said the funding won’t solve the problem for everyone but it’ll help significantly.