Insular representatives want full funding for LIHEAP

Led by CNMI Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan, all five representatives of U.S. insular areas have requested that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius provide the full funding authorized by law for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. Current funding is only $6 million annually, but Sebelius has the legal authority to set aside almost four times more. In the Marianas the limited funding means eligible households receive less energy assistance than they need.

“People in the Northern Marianas and the other U.S. insular areas face energy costs that are two to three time higher than the national average,” according to Sablan. “And the secretary of HHS is supposed to take need into consideration when allocating funds. Yet since the program began, the insular areas have only been getting the bare minimum authorized by law. It’s time to change that.”

Sablan wrote the letter to Sebelius, laying out the case for higher funding. The delegates from American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico all signed off on the letter, too.

“The law authorizes the secretary to set aside up to 0.5 percent of the annual appropriation for LIHEAP to the islands,” Sablan said. “But right now we are only getting 0.135 percent, about $6 million for all of us.

“When you divide that among the insular areas the Northern Marianas gets the least of all, just 1.3 percent, compared to 1.7 percent for American Samoa, 3.6 percent for Guam, 3.4 percent for the Virgin Islands, and 90 percent for Puerto Rico. Of course, Puerto Rico has the largest population.

“The secretary is also supposed to take our energy costs into consideration. In the NMI electricity cost on average 28.2 cents per kilowatt hour in 2009 compared 11.5 cents nationally.

“This is not a case of fighting for a larger slice of the pie, however,” Sablan added. “First we have to increase the size of the pie by getting the secretary to provide the full 0.5 percent that the insular areas should be receiving.

“Once we have that settled, then there will be more LIHEAP assistance in all the insular areas, even if there are some new adjustments in distribution based upon current population data and energy costs.”

The 2010 allocation for the Northern Marianas was $76,470. Sablan’s request for a full 0.5 percent of LIHEAP funds for the insular areas could increase that to $205,857.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program assists low income households, particularly those that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy. Home energy is defined by statute as a source of heating or cooling in residential dwellings.

In addition to the effort to raise the LIHEAP set-aside for the insular areas, Sablan has also introduced legislation, H.R. 3063, that redirects a portion of Leveraging Incentive Grants to the insular areas. The Leveraging Incentive program authorizes supplemental LIHEAP funding for grantees that acquired non-federal leveraged resources for their LIHEAP programs in the preceding fiscal year.

“We are working on multiple fronts to get more help for people in the Northern Marianas to pay their CUC bills,” Sablan said. (PR)