Blackouts reveal endemic problems in the Texas power market
Texas must incentivize power companies to invest in reliable, baseload generation.
An Oncor crew works on along Elsie Faye Heggins Street as power outages continue across the state after a second winter storm brought more snow and continued freezing temperatures to North Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Dallas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)
By Bernard L. Weinstein
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Now that the Texas deep freeze is receding and electric power is being restored, the blame game is heating up.
Gov. Greg Abbott has called for an investigation and resignations at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, known as ERCOT, the state’s electric grid operator. Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has asked two committees in the lower chamber to hold a joint hearing later this month to review the outages. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, head of the state Senate, says the Senate Business and Commerce Commi
‘They were not prepared’: After winter crisis, Texas will have to confront its energy, politics and culture
The historic storm and cascading disasters power and water shortages are forcing the state to take a hard look at its ideals and principles.
With temperatures already falling into the single digits homeless person sleeps in the doorway of the Majestic Theater as a winter storm brings snow and freezing temperatures to North Texas on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Dallas.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)
Like so many Texans, LaShonda McGrew spent most of Sunday dazzled by the rare blanket of snow that covered her suburban Fort Worth home. It was beautiful, she told her husband, as they spent the day listening to sermons, sitting next to the fire and preparing for the workweek.
Dallas County Judge Says Gov. Abbott Consciously Chose Regulations That Led to Power Crisis
On 2/18/21 at 1:26 PM EST
As the power crisis in Texas continues to leave many without heat during a winter storm, Governor Greg Abbott has tried to shift fault onto renewable energy sources. But Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says Abbott himself is largely to blame. The fold of this lies squarely on [former Governor] Rick Perry and the current governor, Greg Abbott, Jenkins told CNN s Alisyn Camerota on Thursday. They and their team passed the regulations to tell people whether or not they need to winterize. They chose not to tell companies to winterize that need to winterize which in a regulatory environment for a commodity is telling people not to winterize.