Mmmmm, Tasty Foreign Oil

Tenth MA District U.S. Representative William Delahunt helped broker a deal with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to bring 12 million gallons of home heating oil to low income residents and charities in the Bay State. Our friend Paul over at A Blog Soup was quick to point out the Boston Globe report on this deal. Delahunt, working with Citizens Energy Corporation, secured a 40% discount on the 12 million gallons of oil arriving in Massachusetts over the next four months from Venezuela. The discounted oil is earmarked for use by charities and the state's poor.

Both sides of the political aisle have been repeating the mantra of reducing reliance on foreign oil, but neither has delivered an actual plan to make it happen. Current prices are anticipated to increase greatly in the next few months, and Bostonist fears the sensational reporting in cold weather - when we’re urged to go check on the elderly neighbors and family. As weather turns colder (unlike the temp today) we expect that the news media will begin with the retrospective studies on how many people have turned off their heat just so they can pay their bills. Kudos to Delahunt et al. for anticipating the needs of the Commonwealth’s poor and delivering a solution before the problem is fully upon us. But then there’s the problem of foreign oil, or more specifically, how the US doesn't play nice with foreigners who own the oil…

Hugo Chavez, a self proclaimed lefty, has been painted in a poor light recently by the Bush administration. Talking points have crept into reports Bostonist has heard - and last week Chavez told his country that Bush may be plotting to off him. We’re not really sure what’s going on with Chavez and Bush, but after Bush refused the Venezuelan offer of aide in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the Chavez-led protest of Bush at the Summit of the Americas in Argentina, Bostonist is sure the tension is rising. After the latest oil deal with Massachusetts organizations, which, we are led to believe, has nothing to do with foreign policy, we’d sure like to hear what Kerry has to say about it all.

Smiling widely in picture is Joe Kennedy II, chairman and president of Citizens Energy.