US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman last night said he would not turn down charitable donations of cheap heating fuels this winter, even if it comes from a Venezuelan leader who called President Bush "the devil."
"I can't find my way clear to object to Venezuela being charitable," Mr Bodman said in an interview after touring a renewable energy lab at the University of Cincinnati.
"I view it as a charitable contribution and I wish more companies did it," he added, referring to past donations of heating oil by Venezuela to states like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York.
Citgo Petroleum, backed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, plans to expand a controversial program of subsidizing home-heating oil for the US poor this year, doubling the number of states that will receive the cheap oil.
Venezuela, which provides around 12 per cent of US oil imports, is a member of the Opec oil cartel.
Some US politicians who once embraced the cheap oil from Caracas - including those in Maine - are now shunning it after Mr Chavez called President Bush "the devil" in a September 20th speech at the United Nations.
The expanded program threatens to deepen an ongoing spat between Mr Chavez and Mr Bush, who calls the Venezuelan a threat to democracy in Latin America. Mr Chavez, a socialist, says Bush is trying to undermine his political support.