Energy Department Provides Additional Emergency Fuel Loan to Department of Defense as Part of Hurricane Sandy and Nor’easter Recovery

Energy Department Provides Additional Emergency Fuel Loan to Department of Defense as Part of Hurricane Sandy and Nor’easter Recovery | Department of Energy Skip to main content Energy.gov Find information about your town or city. Search form Search Energy.gov Public ServicesTax Credits, Rebates & SavingsHomesVehiclesBuilding DesignManufacturingNational Security & SafetyEnergy EconomyFunding OpportunitiesState & Local GovernmentScience & InnovationScience & TechnologyScience EducationInnovationEnergy SourcesEnergy UsageEnergy EfficiencyMissionNews & BlogMaps & DataAbout UsFor Staff & ContractorsOfficesAll OfficesProgram OfficesStaff OfficesLabs & Technology CentersField SitesPower Marketing AdministrationOther Agencies You are hereHome » Energy Department Provides Additional Emergency Fuel Loan to Department of Defense as Part of Hurricane Sandy and Nor’easter Recovery Energy Department Provides Additional Emergency Fuel Loan to Department of Defense as Part of Hurricane Sandy and Nor’easter Recovery November 9, 2012 - 7:15pm Addthis NEWS MEDIA CONTACT(202) 586-4940

WASHINGTON – As part of the government-wide response and recovery effort for Hurricane Sandy and the Nor’easter, the Energy Department is providing the Department of Defense with additional ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve in response to a request from the State of Connecticut. The Energy Department will be loaning diesel fuel to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), who in turn will provide emergency loans to fuel distributors in Connecticut to address fuel shortages in the state. This is a continuation of the agreement announced a week ago when President Obama declared that Hurricane Sandy has created a severe energy supply interruption and directed the Energy Department to loan the Department of Defense ultra-low sulfur diesel from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve.

“This latest announcement is part of the broader federal effort to respond to those impacted by Hurricane Sandy and the more recent Nor’easter storm,” said Secretary Chu. “This loan from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve will help ensure communities in the impacted area have access to the diesel fuel they need for their transportation systems.”

The State of Connecticut requested this additional release to address fuel shortages that resulted primarily from curtailed supplies from New York Harbor.  The Energy Department is currently planning to release 4.2 million gallons from the heating oil reserve terminal in Groton, Conn. beginning as early as this weekend.  The fuel, which represents roughly five days worth of fuel consumption in Connecticut, will then be provided to fuel distributors in the state and will be repaid in the next 30 days by the distributors directly.

The Energy Department and DLA stand ready to make available additional fuel as needed. 

The Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve was created in July 2000 as a component of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to respond to emergencies and supply disruptions in the home heating oil market.  The reserve holds 42 million gallons of ultra-low sulfur diesel, located at terminals in Groton, Conn. and Revere, Mass.  More detail on the history of the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve is available HERE. 

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Governor Provides a Teaching Moment in Christianity

There's nothing really complicated about Christianity - it's a simple religion based on a very simple premise.

Still, many non-believers find it tricky - and misunderstandings are common.

This is especially true for those who consider themselves Christians because they think of themselves as being good persons, or maybe attend church regularly, or belong to a particular faith where they've spent a lot of time inside a church building.

These things are nice but unfortunately do not make someone a Christian.

These days politics and religion are so intertwined that much of the press coverage on Christianity adds to the confusion, and often hurts the public image of Christianity.

The latest example occurred this week when the newly elected Governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley made some remarks that many did not understand, particularly non-Christians.

Governor Bentley told a church crowd that those individuals who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his "brother and sister"; although he went on to say that he wanted these non-believers to be his "brother and sister."

This of course means he wants them to be Christians.

The Anti-Defamation League called the Governor's remarks "shocking". The Governor is right however - as far as the statement goes. Those who do not believe that Jesus is their savior - would not be his "brother or sister". That is a simple statement of Christian fact.

The Anti-Defamation League went on to question whether non-Christians can expect to receive fair and equal treatment from Governor Bentley in light of these comments, and that is a fair point to ask.

But the Governor has stated that he will serve "all of Alabama" equally, and until he demonstrates otherwise, everyone should expect this to be the case.

The League (which fights discrimination against Jewish people) went on to say that Governor Bentley's comments sounded as if he was trying to use his office as Governor to advocate conversion to Christianity among the people of Alabama.

As a Christian, the Governor probably does want everyone to know Jesus as their savior as this is the basis of the Christian religion. He made the remarks to a church audience, and only he can decide if he should keep those thoughts to himself.

The New Testament, the "Bible" of Christianity, says he should not.

Many believe that public officials should not utter any comments concerning their religious beliefs, while others say this is oppressive and unacceptable. Mixing politics and religion is hard, no doubt, but having a good understanding of various religious beliefs might be a good place to start.

British scholar and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis said that being a Christian does not necessarily mean that other religions do not contain at least some element of truth - but he said Christians differ from other religions in one important way - namely that Christians believe Christianity is right and all other religions are wrong.

He went on to say that Christianity is similar to the logic of arithmetic that way - there is only one right answer to a sum and every other answer is wrong. Yet he points out that some wrong answers are much nearer being right than others.

No doubt Governor Bentley understands this about Christianity - and others do not.

Robb Austin is a former newspaper reporter and elected Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and has successfully run numerous Congressional campaigns. Learn more at http://robbaustin.com/.

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