The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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EDI TO R' S NO T E Oc t o b e r VOL . 7 7 NO. 1 0 EDITORIAL STAF F A Significant Election Keith Reid imagine an election more consequential to the industry. Both parties offer our specific industry advantages and disad- vantages. Let's look at a few. Where heating fuels are concerned, the T Republicans are more a friend of oil and you could likely expect to see more empha- sis placed on fossil fuels at the expense of wind and solar. The Keystone Pipeline, fracking (both oil and natural gas), drill- ing offshore and other fuel interests will be pursued. Given the regional and generally bipartisan nature of biofuels it's hard to see them disappearing under a Republican administration any more than under a Democratic administration, especially since some environmental groups and tradition- ally left-leaning media outlets have soured on those solutions to some extent. Where the commodities markets are con- cerned, the Democrats have shown at least some interest in addressing the commodities markets to shift them back to the more regu- lated era pre 2000. Functionally though, there seems to be little real interest from the Obama administration in giving those efforts teeth. The Republicans seem to downplay excessive speculation as an issue and have lacked clarity on such market reforms beyond generally promising to work to repeal Dodd-Frank. Where the current business environ- ment is concerned, it's hard to see too many advantages under a continued Obama administration given the nature of our indus- try and readership. Traditionally neither 8 HE TIMEFRAME OF THIS ISSUE FALLS squarely with the final days of the 2012 election season. It's hard to party appears to fully value the middle class or small business, but in areas from tax policy to monetary policy to labor regulation and beyond it is hard not to see the Republican alternative (as ill defined as it currently is) as coming out ahead. That is my opinion and I am admittedly a fiscal conservative. If you are have a Keynesian economic outlook vs. the Austrian School you might certainly disagree with that assessment. Obama care will most certainly become a reality under an Obama win and will very likely be repealed or signifi- cantly modified under a Republican win. Where direct industry support is con- cerned the Democrats have tended to push a range of fuel and home improvement incentives both historically and linked to the former stimulus that might be in jeopardy at the federal level with a Republican win. In general such incentives are hardly assured to continue under a Democrats administration (especially with a Republican Congress) as spending cuts are likely unavoidable regard- less and our industry might or might not have the clout to make sure we end up on the good side of the chopping block. Areas like LIHEAP funding have consistently been pressured in the past four years. Most cer- tainly a future stimulus will be a hard sell but that applies even with an Obama win. Beyond these areas are the more gen- eral domestic policy, foreign policy and long-term economic arguments for sup- porting one party over the other. I have my opinions on those as do we all. Regardless of your political leanings this will clearly be one of the most, if not the most, significant election in many years. OCTOBER 2012 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com Editorial Office 1030 W. Higgins Road Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 847/720-5600 Editor Keith Reid 847/720-5615 kreid@m2media360.com Managing Editor Debra Reschke Schug 847/720-5618 dschug@m2media360.com Columnists Charles Bursey, Sr. John Griffin George Lanthier EXECUTIVE STAF F President/CEO and Group Publisher Marion Minor List Rentals/ Reprints – Cheryl Naughton 678/292-6054 Fax: 360/294-6054 cnaughton@m2media360.com PRODUCT ION Production Manager – Mary Jo Tomei Art Director – Andrew Stamm ADVERTISING SALES East – Dave Campbell, Associate Publisher 413/528-2364 Fax: 413/528-8835 dcampbell@m2media360.com Central & South – Rich Alden 603/899-3010 Fax: 603/899-2343 ralden@m2media360.com West – Ken Jordan 972/540-2122 Fax: 972/540-2127 kjordan@m2media360.com MAIN OF F ICE 1030 W. Higgins Road Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 847/720-5600 • Fax: 847-720-5601 CUSTOMER SERVICE 845/856-2229 • Fax: 845/856-5822 Fuel Oil News P.O. Box 4290, Port Jervis, NJ 12771 M2MEDIA360 Membership applied for 7/1/2010 BEV-AL COMMUNICAT IONS INC. Marion Minor Gerald Winkel President/CEO Director of Finance Joanne Juda-Prainito Mary Jo Tomei VP Audience Develolpment Production Director