Hawai'i is a tropical state with very little need for home heating.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt probably knows that, but on Thursday he released $5.18 million to the state saying the U.S. government wants to help people with this winter's heating bills.

"The release of these funds will help low-income families in Hawai'i stay warm this winter," said Leavitt in a press statement issued to local media. "These funds will also help reduce the risk of health and safety problems exacerbated by exposure to extreme temperatures."

A department spokesman yesterday acknowledged that local residents might not need the money to subsidize heating and that the funds from the government's Lowe Income Home Energy Assistance Program can be used by eligible households to meet their cooling or heating needs.

"I know Hawai'i doesn't get cold like that," said spokesman Kenneth Wolfe, explaining the money is for use through next September. "I'm going to assume Hawai'i is going to use that money for cooling."

For the record, the Hawai'i Meetings and Convention Bureau lists the state's average temperature as between 68 degrees and 80 degrees during the winter months of December to March.

On Thursday, Leavitt released $5.1 billion of in energy assistance for poor people. Wolfe said Congress had doubled the amount under the program from last year. Money is doled out through complex formulas that include population size and state climates.

Hawai'i got the least amount of money handed out; New York got the most at $538.2 million.