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Propane prices on the rise in UP

EDITOR:

This is meant as a wakeup call to local, state and federal departments and persons who are responsible for seeing that those in need of propane and/or wood to heat their homes and are at the poverty level where they need help and not been getting it since October 2017 during the bitter cold weather we experienced in Dickinson and Iron counties.

On Oct. 31, 2014, the price of propane had risen to $1.69 a gallon and on Feb. 9, 2015, to $1.89. At that time, Gov. Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schutte formed a Task Force to get into “price gouging” and other problems with propane and the problem was corrected. On Oct. 11, 2016, the price of propane was 99 cents a gallon, if the tank was owned rather than rented.

In August 2017, the price of propane was $1.09 a gallon, up 10 cents. The reason given for the rise was we are shipping the propane to Asia ; September 2017, the price was $1.19 a gallon, up 10 cents, the reason given was storm Harvey in Texas; October 2017, the price was $1.49, up 30 cents, reason given was we are shipping propane to Asia ; January 2018, $1.99, up 50 cents, reason given was we are shipping propane to Asia. In Iron County in January, the price was $2.19 a gallon — an increase of a dollar or more per gallon in just over a year. Price gouging?

The vulnerable families in Dickinson County who cannot afford heat need help now and protections must be put into place to see this never happens again.

In Dickinson and Iron Counties, Commissioners Joe Stevens and Tim Aho sit on the Upper Peninsula Board in Escanaba and Commissioners Barbara Kramer and Jim Brennan sit on the Community Action Agency Board in Iron Mountain. These are the elected people who should lead the way in solving this problem, Now. Wake up, people!

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