The Shriver Brief : Poverty Law Commentary & Insights : Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law : Affordable Housing, Healthcare Reform

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recently released additional funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP is a federally funded program that assists qualified, low-income households in paying for winter energy costs.  The program is designed to assist individuals and families with energy costs, primarily winter energy costs, so they are not forced to make painful decisions regarding which bills to pay and which necessities to live without. HHS has allocated nearly $230 million in additional funds to Illinois. In 2009, 415,669 low-income households in Illinois received energy assistance through LIHEAP; about two million households were actually eligible.

LIHEAP will provide a one-time payment for eligible households to be used for winter energy bills and emergency furnace repairs. The amount of payment is determined by household size, energy type, and the household's 30-day income, which cannot exceed 150% of the federal poverty level.   If heat and electricity are included in the household’s rent, the monthly rent must be greater than 30% of household income to receive assistance. When applying, applicants should bring the following items to their local Community Action Agency:

• Proof of gross income from all household members for the 30-day period prior to the application date.
• A current copy of heat and electric bills (if the applicant pays for home energy directly). The utility bill must have been issued within the last 30 days.
• Proof of Social Security numbers of all household members.
• If a member in the household receives TANF, the applicant must bring the recipient’s Medical Eligibility Card.
• Applicants who have their utilities included in the rent must bring proof of the  rental agreement stating the monthly rental amount and that utilities are included, as well as contact information for the landlord.

The following example illustrates the application process:

A family of four living in Rock Island, Illinois, is interested in receiving LIHEAP assistance for their gas heat. They are eligible for LIHEAP if their gross income does not exceed $2,756 in the 30 days prior to their application. At this income level, they will qualify for a one-time direct payment to the vendor of $379 to help pay their gas bill. If heating costs are included in the family’s rent, their monthly rent must be greater than $827 to receive a one-time cash grant to offset energy costs. Once the application is complete, the Community Action Agency has 30 days to notify the applicant of approval or denial. Upon approval, the payment will be made within 15 days to the vendor or applicant.

LIHEAP assistance is available until May 31, 2011, or until funding is exhausted.   For more eligibility information and where to apply visit the Illinois LIHEAP website.

Heidy Robertson coauthored this blog post.

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The House passed the monumental American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) almost a year ago. Since then, there have been two climate bills introduced in the Senate, the Kerry-Boxer bill and the Cantwell-Collins bill.  And, for several months, everyone awaited the introduction of the tri-partisan Kerry-Lieberman-Graham bill . . . an introduction that would never come to pass. Last week, after Senator Graham (R-SC) dropped his sponsorship, Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Lieberman (I-CT) released a third climate bill in the Senate, the American Power Act. 

The American Power Act, similarly to ACES, would place a cap on carbon emissions, requiring large emitters (over 25,000 tons annually) to have allowances that could be bought and sold, creating a cap-and-trade system.  Among other provisions, the bill sets aside $7 billion annually to improve our transportation infrastructure, provides $2 billion in incentives annually to research and develop “clean coal” technologies, and provides substantial financial incentives to increase nuclear power generation. In the aftermath of the BP oil leak, the Act also grants to states a 37.5 percent share of revenues collected from off-shore drilling in federal waters off their coastlines, giving states the “option” to veto off-shore drilling within 75 miles of their coasts.

The cap on carbon emissions would hopefully begin to curb global warming, but it would also increase energy costs and the costs of energy-intensive goods for American consumers. The Act includes special consumer protection measures aimed at our nation’s poorest, but are they sufficient? Chad Stone, Chief Economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, believes they are, characterizing the protections as “the soundest approach to protecting low- and moderate-income consumers in a comprehensive energy and climate bill.”

The Act creates the “Energy Refund Program” for families with incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Each state’s human services agency would administer the program, and benefits would be delivered on the same debit cards currently used to administer food stamps and other benefits. Families who already receive food stamps or SSI would automatically be enrolled in the program. Families with slightly higher incomes, between 150 and 250 percent of the federal poverty level, would be eligible for a refundable credit distributed through the tax system.

Although these special provisions may be enough to protect our nation’s most vulnerable, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) believes that, in terms of consumer protection for the average American, the Act falls far short of the House bill passed last year. 

The bill could be strengthened in many ways, but it may represent the last chance (at least for many years) to pass badly needed comprehensive climate change legislation. Many already doubt the Senate’s ability to pass a bill, but after elections this fall, chances will be even slimmer. We need a climate bill, and we need our Senators to step up to the plate now.
 

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The United States transformed itself into an industrialized nation through the use of cheap, convenient fossil fuels. Now nations like Brazil, China, and India are pulling their countries out of poverty and becoming industrialized in much the same way. Access to cheap energy is generally a good thing: it affords innovation in labor and development, clean water, warm homes, and stable infrastructure.

Furthermore, millions of people living in poverty rely on dangerous solid fuel alternatives when they do not have access to fossil fuels. One third of the global population burns wood, crop waste, and dung to meet their basic human needs. According to the World Health Organization, the use of solid fuel causes 1.6 million excess deaths each year, and is the fourth largest risk for death in developing countries after malnutrition, waterborne diseases, and unsafe sex. It is unconscionable that people have to resort to solid fuel to survive. Although fossil fuel has become the cheapest alternative, we know that unless, as a global community, we reduce our fossil fuel emissions the result will be catastrophic.

In the next forty years, the demand for energy will double as developing countries continue to build industrialized societies, but at the same time we must significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Richard Smalley, the 2005 Nobel Prize-winning physicist, called this the Terawatt Challenge: “Increasing global energy production from roughly 15 terawatts in 2005 to 60 terawatts annually by 2100 in a way that simultaneously confronts the challenges of global warming, poverty alleviation, and resource depletion.” (One terawatt is equal to one billion kilowatts). 

Ending global poverty is a moral imperative. But how do we tell our global neighbors that we want them to pull their citizens out of poverty without the use of fossil fuels? Particularly when we used fossil fuels to develop, and we continue to struggle to wean ourselves from them today. So what is the solution? The fastest way to solve this problem is to close the price gap between clean and dirty energy. Developing and deploying cheap clean energy has the potential to alleviate global poverty on a massive scale, while stabilizing the world’s climate. The real issue is how to catalyze this shift. 

The United States House passed landmark climate change legislation last year that uses a cap and trade model for reducing carbon emissions. The theory behind cap and trade is that as carbon becomes more expensive, certain industries will look for more cost effective alternatives. Thus, clean energy alternatives will naturally emerge as the price of carbon goes up. 

Others argue that in addition to a cap and trade system, the federal government must actively invest money in research and development of clean energy alternatives.  Some climate change experts argue that the revenue from selling carbon permits should be used to invest in clean energy alternatives, while others argue that those revenues should be used to subsidize energy bills for low-income citizens. Ultimately, for climate change legislation to turn the tide on climate change, in a fair way, it must do all three: reduce carbon emissions, encourage the development of new energy technology, and protect low-income families. 

This post was coauthored by Carrie Gilbert.

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