Living in Texas myself, I've often wondered why people up north use oil to heat their homes. What is the difference between using natural gas (like we do) and oil up there?
Right now I'll bet companies in the conversion business have never been busier switching homes/businesses from oil to gas.
FYI...
http://www.conocophillips.com/newsroom/other_resources/energyanswers/naturalgas.htm
Why aren't there more natural gas pipelines in the Northeast?
Heating oil has been the primary residential fuel in the Northeast for many years, replacing coal in most homes after World War II. Supplying this area of the country with heating oil came logically because numerous ports and rivers can readily handle fuel shipments by tanker and barge. By contrast, large scale use of natural gas for home heating began in the Midwest when pipelines were constructed from fields in Texas and Oklahoma. Eventually, large distribution lines fanned out to western and southern states. The Northeast, however, because of its distance from gas-producing areas and its well-established heating oil market, has lagged behind the rest of the nation in its consumption of natural gas.
Logistical issues also have been a deterrent to residential gas use in the region. Long-distance transmission pipelines and underground municipal distribution systems are expensive to build and can be disruptive during construction in densely populated areas. Despite these obstacles, new pipelines are being built, and demand for natural gas is increasing in the Northeast, particularly for clean-burning electric power generation plants. For example, in 2002 the natural gas industry spent an estimated $4.6 billion to construct 3,700 miles of new pipelines - a 50 percent boost in spending over the previous year.