what mainers need to know

[luckyleftyme2]

while you paid a premium price for your heating oil last winter the oil companies claimed their was an oil shortage and a lack of refinery capacity. well according to the u.s.a. energy department the oil companies exported 1.6 million barrels of refined petroleum products daily to foreign buyers. this was up 33% from 2007.
enron is not the only type of business corruption; their is also price fixing, monopolies, graft and many other methods to deceive.
perhaps if we monitored this particular industry more closely and informed the general public of such dealings this alone would rein them in. after all if your not a good neighbor we can deal with you.

[mainegreen]

1. Why we export oil or coal is beyond me.

The revenue it generates, while sizable, is not large enough to offset what is basically a national stability and security issue.

[northernlights]

2. energy is such a national security issue...

our entire economy, health and security rest on it. It should be nationalized -- it's a public resource. Same as water.

Another thing Mainers should know is that we can fight back. I just joined a local fuel coop of 200+ members in the midcoast. They are wisely holding off on getting price bids, having figured out that the speculative bubble will be burst and prices forced down at least temporarily in the runup to the election.

I had joined a southern Maine co-op that locked in at $2.39/gallon last year, but that didn't work out and I feel taken by them ($35 fee to join). And I was initially concerned about dropping my oil supplier, which was a local family-run business. And then they sold out to a bigger firm, and then I was frightened after hearing horror stories of a local propane supplier that suddenly charged its customers $9/gallon midwinter last year!

And then I saw a notice for the midcoast coop that is free to join and immediately contacted them.

So something for everyone to look into. Is there a coop in your area? If not, get together with friends, family and neighbors, negotiate and lock in sometime before November 1. After the election will be a wildcard, but I have no doubt that today's announcements on Iraq drawdown and Iran diplomacy are a deliberate attempt to force prices down for a few months.

[luckyleftyme2]

3. the point

the point was to show that business lies and government doesn't publish their findings but seems to concur with business. not once when the media was hyping the possible shortage of refinery space,or rising costs of fuel did they show this information.(refining 1.8 million barrels a day for export)
this needs to change and information needs to flow freely. to harbor this should be
a violation of ones operating license!
this winter we will have people in jeopardy. honesty can save lives!

[fight4my3sons]

4. There is a program through Demcorps

Someone was at a meeting I was at talking about it. Here is the link and some info:

http://demcorps.org/Discount.aspx

Heating Oil/K-1 Discount for Dem Corps Members



A lot of collective purchasing power is created when people join as a group to buy products and services. When you join us and become a member of Dem Corps, one of the member benefits is an opportunity to purchase home heating oil or K-1 at group discounted prices, subject of course to certain restrictions, limitations, and availability. Families typically find themselves saving hundreds of dollars on fuel over what they may pay elsewhere for a comparable plan. This page explains how our program works. Please read this over and contact [e-mail] if any questions remain or to offer to help bring this benefit to your town.



How it Works (the Basics):

You become a member of Dem Corps by clicking on the JOIN and/or DONATE tab, following the instructions and raising or making the requested donation of $35 or more to Dem Corps. You help spread the word in your area, and Dem Corps provides the organizational support and solicits bids from reliable oil dealers to serve the region. Dem Corps volunteers will then send to our members the details of the best offer we found for home heating oil and K-1. The oil dealer with the winning bid gets our membership list and sends out contract offers. If you like the company and the terms, you can choose to accept the offer, return the signed contract and pay the oil dealer directly; or if not satisfied, you can choose to decline the offer and take your fuel business elsewhere. In any case, your support of Dem Corps will help our group grow and help fund our various community programs.

OIL DISCOUNTS ARE AVAILABLE...WE WILL EMAIL FORMS TO YOU AFTER YOU JOIN ONLINE...THAT IS THE MOST TIMELY WAY TO JOIN...PRICING CHANGING WEEKLY (SOMETIMES DAILY) DUE TO EXTREME WORLDWIDE MARKET VOLATILITY.



Restrictions, Limitations, and Availability (So there is no confusion, please read carefully):

Last year the group discount was available for York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, Kennebec and Sagadahoc Counties. This year with your support we hope to extend the benefit region all the way up the coast to Hancock County and the Bangor area or perhaps even beyond. You can make it happen by spreading the word and helping to sign up enough Dem Corps members to warrant an offer from an oil dealer for you region.

We will ask for bids for a fixed pre-pay plan, a fixed budget plan, and a capped price plan with downside protection, but not all plans are available from all dealers each year.
The Home Heating Oil/K-1 Group Discount is a benefit restricted to members of Dem Corps.

Additionally, it is limited to those members using a minimum of 500 gallons of fuel a year.
Your contract will be directly with the oil dealer, who retains the right to refuse customers for a payment plan if they are not deemed credit worthy.
While we will be working together to get the very best deal from a reliable oil dealer there is no guarantee that we can beat every deal that is offered throughout the region.
You are not bound to make the purchase until you sign the contract with the dealer. If you are not satisfied with the oil dealer's offer do not accept it.
All other things being equal we will choose to stay with the past year's chosen oil dealer to avoid a needless change for all of us.
You can have your furnace serviced by a party other than the chosen oil dealer, but be aware that your oil dealer will naturally be motivated to keep your furnace running through a cold Maine winter.
No donations to Dem Corps will be returned for any reason.
In the event of much broader war, oil crisis, or other unanticipated circumstance that prevents Dem Corps from being able to get what we feel is a reasonable offer from a reliable oil dealer for your area, your membership will automatically be extended for an additional year and we will try again.
The group discount only applies to the oil dealer whose bid we accept. While not prohibited, it is considered bad practice for members to ask another dealer to match our group discount, or for other oil dealers to try to draw off customers after they have had a chance to bid a group discount. Please remember that our only economic strength is in working collectively as a group.

The more we grow the more that we can do for the community and the more benefits we can gain. So please invite friends, relatives and coworkers sharing our values to join our new movement.
All rights reserved

[MaineDem]

5. Thanks for posting this. I was looking for the information and you got to it first.

:)

I can't use this but others who live in the areas covered have taken advantage of the DemCorps discount in the past.

[fight4my3sons]

6. you're welcome

:)

[punkpatriot411]

7. forget oil

remove federal subsidies and get the regulation that is blocking biofuels from being economically viable.

the only biofuels available right now use corn and soy as feedstock. lame.

That's because of Big Soy and Big Corn have lobbied congress to get subsidies.

If they let the free market work it out, we'd be using whatever is cheapest and has the highest yeild of sugar or oil. For instance-- most people don't realize you can make biofuel from rendered animal fats, skin, blood, and bones. It's actually got more BTUs than plant biofuel.

You can use the slurry from slaughterhouses, which currently is composted or just dumped into the sewer system, to make biofuels.

There are road taxes and regulations on biodiesel though, that make it impossible to sell for road use. The standards they have to meet favor monopoly of PETROLEUM, because nobody making biodiesel in their backyard has access to the kinds of tests that they need to be able to run on their fuel.

Furthermore, most of these tests are only relevant to dinodiesel, not biodiesel.

Get government out of the way. Forget petroleum.

[luckyleftyme2]

8. leave it to ?

get goverment out of the way sounds like ray to me. a snake with an agenda for me.I, me ,MY ,ME.