Dear editor,
The recent disaster that hit Texas brought most of the state to a standstill. It cost billions of dollars and untold suffering and a large number of deaths. As people searched for answers, conspiracy theories and disinformation were shared almost instantly on social media. A careful reading from multiple sources provides answers.
*90% of Texas power is controlled by Texas officials and the Texas Legislature. The power grid is not connected to out of state power sources.
*The governor appoints the board of directors of the Public Utility Commission (PUC), which oversees the distribution of power managed by ERCOT (Energy Reliability Council of Texas).
*Additional deregulation and privatization increased beginning in 1999. One goal of the deregulation has been to avoid oversight by FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), which recommended winterization of power plants and equipment after the power outages following the severe weather of Feb 2011, outages caused by grid failure, not nature. Storms in 2014 again exposed weaknesses in the power grid when dealing with greatly increased demand.
*Texas power is supplied by natural gas, coal, nuclear and renewables, including wind and solar, with natural gas being the biggest of these. All failed. On Monday morning, Feb 15, the state’s power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a complete collapse, according to Bill Magness, president of ERCOT. This would have resulted in weeks or possibly months of significant power disruptions in the state. Rolling blackouts were ordered to prevent this. Without the ability to control the blackouts evenly, many homes were left without power for several days.
*Though many were quick to blame wind energy, the failure of natural gas was by far the biggest loss. Wind turbines work well all across the northern U.S., Canada, and even Antarctica.
*The city of El Paso is part of the Western International Grid, separate from ERCOT, and is therefore able to draw on additional sources of power during extreme weather events. They had very few problems during the storm.
*The city of Denton paid 207 million dollars for 4 days of power, roughly the amount a typical year costs.
*On Feb 13, the Saturday before the worst of the storm hit, Governor Abbott asked the Biden administration for a federal emergency declaration in order to make available federal resources for the state to deal with the approaching severe cold. The White House quickly approved the request and Governor Abbott announced this on Sunday, Feb 14 at gov.texas.gov. Additionally, several days later, the White House declared Texas a major disaster area, which will free up more resources. *Governor Abbott, in a
*Governor Abbott, in a statewide address on Feb 24, said ERCOT offered “false assurances” that it was prepared for the upcoming severe weather. He stressed that the current session of the Texas legislature will not end until the problems are fixed, including winterization of power sources and equipment.
*After the winter storms of 2011, the Texas legislature passed legislation that gave the PUC the authority to winterize power plants and equipment. When questioned on Thursday during legislative hearings, the head of the PUC, DeAnn T. Walker, admitted that the winterization did not happen. Hearings continued into Friday, with Governor Abbott repeatedly promising action. One legislator stated that the public had been promised in 2011 that power outages due to grid failure would not happen again.
All sources are available without cost online. This information comes from ercot.com, gov.texas.gov., The Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, NPR, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Texas Tribune, Reuters, the Austin American-Statesman, and Governor Abbott’s statewide address on Feb 24.
Vivian Menzel
Desdemona