Texas officials appear to have followed the shameful energy mismanagement that routinely causes Californians to lose power when residents need it the most.
Lone Star State officials want everyday people to believe that 4 million people lost power and dozens died due to an “unprecedented” cold front. Nothing could be further from the truth. Elected officials cozied up to liberal ideologies in recent years, echoing that sustainable energy sources such as wind turbines would deliver secure electricity.
The state increased wind turbines while phasing out other resources. Texas reportedly reduced natural gas and coal to account for 40 percent and 18 percent of its energy output, respectively. Less reliable wind sources have increased to account for 23 percent of the state’s electricity. Those wind turbines froze solid, making this Arctic blast unprecedented only in terms of Green New Deal incompetence. Governor Greg Abbott recently chastised the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), calling for an investigation.
“This was a total failure,” Governor Abbott reportedly said. “They showed that they were not reliable.”
Until recently, the Texas governor appeared relatively popular due to his firm stances on gun rights and refusing to shutter the economy again. But his approval rating may fall off a cliff when voters discover that a reported one-third of 15 ERCOT board members don’t even live in Texas, including the Chair who lives in Michigan.
Abbott may have some explaining of his own to do as well. Fox News host Tucker Carlson took the governor to task. The conservative Fox News celebrity delivered a stinging satire that may have struck a chord of truth with Texans.
“The Green New Deal has come, believe it or not, to the state of Texas. How’s it working out so far? The windmills froze, so the power grid failed,” Carlson reportedly said. “If there’s one thing you would think Texas would be able to do, it’s keep the lights on. Most electricity comes from natural gas, and Texas produces more of that than any place on the continent. There are huge natural gas deposits all over the state. Running out of energy in Texas is like starving to death at the grocery store: You can only do it on purpose, and Texas did.”
He went on to note that Governor Abbott accepted the “Wind Leadership Award, given with gratitude by Tri Global Energy, a company getting rich from green energy.” Ouch!
A reported 300 cases of possible carbon monoxide poisoning were reported in Houston’s Harris County as freezing residents warmed themselves in running cars or brought propane barbecue grills into their living rooms to survive the frigid temperatures.
If this were the first indicator that wind turbines and other so-called “sustainable energy” sources were unreliable, one might expect proactive measures to be taken, so it never happens again. Truth be told, Texans suffered rolling blackouts in 2011 and 2014. Unprecedented? Hardly.
After California Governor Gavin Newsom blamed climate change for millions losing power, Texas Senator Ted Cruz noted that the West Coast state was “now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization.” He also pointed out that Joe Biden now wants to make this fatal “energy policy the standard nationwide.”
