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Maine’s two U.S. senators, Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Independent Sen. Angus King, Jr., have urged President Donald Trump to unleash home heating oil reserves in a bid to help alleviate elevated prices.
“We write to request that you release home heating oil from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve to protect Mainers from the very high prices that are imposing a difficult financial burden,” the lawmakers pressed the president in a Tuesday letter.
The statewide average heating oil price was $5.77 as of Sept. 14, according to the Maine Department of Energy Resources.
That figure is about 74% higher than back when the statewide heating oil average price was $3.32 as of September 15, 2025.
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Left: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, arrives for the Senate Republicans’ lunch meeting on Wednesday, July 29, 2026; Right: Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, arrives for the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Defense Department’s budget request on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Left: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Right: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The lawmakers asserted in their letter that “the conflict in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine War have prevented additional heating oil from reaching the global market. Maine is particularly vulnerable to global supply shocks because our state imports much of our home heating oil.”
Collins, a moderate Republican who has served in the U.S. Senate for nearly three decades, is running for re-election again this year.
King, while an independent, is listed as a member of the Senate Democratic caucus.
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Americans have been facing elevated fuel prices, with the AAA national average for diesel hitting its highest recorded average price of $6.5276 as of Tuesday, before barely creeping down to $6.5217 as of Wednesday, then $6.5141 as of Thursday.
The AAA national average price for regular gas is $4.4825 as of Thursday, still below the record of $5.0165 that was set in June 2022.
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U.S. President Donald Trump pauses as he walks alone along an ivy-covered wall during his final departure from Aras an Uachtarain on Sept. 12, 2026, in Dublin, Ireland. (Artur Widak/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Digital reached out to the White House on Wednesday.
