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Natural gas prices jumped more than nine percent to a new high this week and oil prices also climbed, as cold weather across the U.S. raised concerns about how much energy we will need to stay warm this winter.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration has been warning for months that this day would come. This week, the EIA said:

• On average, households heating primarily with natural gas likely will spend $281 (38 percent) more for fuel this winter than last winter.

• Households heating primarily with heating oil can expect to pay, on average, $255 (21 percent) more this winter than last.
• Households heating primarily with propane can expect to pay, on average, $167 (15 percent) more this winter than last.
• Households heating primarily with electricity can expect to pay, on average, $46 (7 percent) more.
  

Should colder weather prevail, expenditures could be significantly higher. These averages provide a broad guide to changes from last winter, but fuel expenditures for individual households are highly dependent on local weather conditions, the size and efficiency of individual homes and their heating equipment, and thermostat settings (Table WF01. Selected U.S. Average Consumer Prices and Expenditures for Heating Fuels for the Winter).

There is certainly a story in how local, state and federal energy-help agencies will try to handle the new requests from folks who cannot afford to pay their energy bills. The Associated Press reported:

Advocates for the poor have argued that as much as $5.1 billion in federal energy assistance is needed to keep up with the high fuel oil and natural gas prices people will face this winter. Energy legislation enacted earlier this year authorizes that much money, but Congress has refused to appropriate it.

The Low Income [Home] Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has been funded at about $2 billion a year for several years. Congress, as part of a spending bill now being crafted, is proposing $2.2 billion for this fiscal year and an additional $1 billion in one-time emergency funds.

State agencies that regulate electric utilities, the natural gas utility industry and advocates for the poor all in recent weeks have urged the White House [PDF] and Congress to increase LIHEAP funding to the full $5.1 billion authorization.

 

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Gander Crash 20 Years Later

On Dec. 12, 1985, a charter plane carrying 256 people, including 248 members of the 101st Airborne Division from Ft. Campbell, Ky., crashed with no survivors near Gander, Newfoundland. The troops were coming home from a "peacekeeping mission" in Sinai. It was the worst military air disaster in American history. (Photos)

Here is a list of those who died, with a state-by-state list of their hometowns. The dead come from 41 states, the District of Columbia and two territories.
 

Twenty years later, there is still wide disagreement on what caused the crash. Was it weather- and weight-related, was it a mechanical issue or was it, as some have suspected, terrorism that caused the crash? There were many theories about why the soldiers were sent to Sinai in the first place.

Years after the crash, some Members of Congress asked for more investigations. (See Congressional Record and actions by the 103rd House and Senate and the 102nd House.)

The Canadian Aviation Safety Board investigated the crash. The majority of the board said the crash was probably caused by wing icing. The air carrier, Arrow Air Inc., was also found to have many maintenance and operating problems. But some members of the board disagreed, and said there was no evidence of significant icing. The minority report said engines may have been running in reverse thrust on takeoff.

The minority report also contained this passage, which has raised questions for years now:

The evidence shows that the Arrow Air DC-8 suffered an on-board fire and a massive loss of power before it crashed. But, we could not establish a direct link between the fire and the loss of power. The line may have been associated with an in-flight detonation from an explosive or incendiary device.

The report went on to explore how the plane had been loaded in Cairo, how it was largely unguarded during the loading process, (which occurred in darkness) and how loading was chaotic and a fight even broke out during the loading process.

 

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We Wish You a Merry... Something

The Daily Herald (in Arlington Heights, Ill., just outside of Chicago) has some fun with the current dance over appropriate ways to celebrate holidays without offending people.

 

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Parents Need to Talk with Their Kids About the "M" Word -- Money

New surveys show that even in well-to-do families, more than a third of children say their parents do not discuss money with them. Yet, U.S. News & World Report says, two-thirds of teens look to their parents for financial advice.

 

This is a hot-button issue for parents. The story says:

Aside from health-related issues, one of the biggest concerns baby boomers have as they enter retirement is their children's financial ignorance, surveys show. These parents are right to be worried. That's because these issues often come home to roost -- literally. Between 2000 and 2004, the number of adult-aged children who still live with -- and off -- their parents rose nearly 70 percent, according to Craig Brimhall, vice president of retirement wealth strategies for Ameriprise Financial.

 

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The Internet as a Political Power

A new study by the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication's Digital Future Project found that more people than ever say the Internet gives users political clout. The study tries to measure the extent to which online users probed the net to get answers about candidates, issues and campaigns.

The study also looks at how often most people check their e-mail, how often they instant message others, how much their use their work computers for personal business and how often kids really use the Internet for homework.

 

How important is the Internet? Look at this response [PDF]:

E-mail again tops the list of the most popular online activities. The top 10 for 2005 are:

• e-mail,
  
• general Web surfing,
  
• reading news,
  
• shopping,
  
• entertainment news (searching and reading),
  
• seeking information about hobbies,
  
• online banking,
  
• medical information (searching and reading),
  
• instant messaging, and
  
• seeking travel arrangements and travel information. [...]
  

Internet users are more loyal to going online than to watching television or using their cell phones.

The Digital Future Project found that if forced to give up technology, Internet users would hang on to the Web -- and would drop their television and cell phones first.

When asked which technology they would be most willing to give up, 39.4 percent of Internet users choose their cell phone, followed by 32.7 percent who would first give up television. Only 27.8 percent of users say they would be most willing to give up the Internet.

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible.

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