It will depend. Does Texas have a lot of the Wind Turbines that froze. If Abbott uses a natural disaster he has no control over to push for greater energy independence, he will not be blamed. This is a natural disaster no different than a hurricane or tornado. A strong response to a once in a 100 year event will deflect any blame. A tepid response and Abbott is done. He did not create the storm and the state does not own the power companies. But he will own the response to a natural disaster.
He hasn’t done very well so far, but the governor in Texas has little real power.
The state most certainly regulates the power companies, and state regulators set reliably standards and state and federal legislatures provide incentives for "renewables", and often impose requirements for renewables. Which is why California is such a hot mess. If California is the canary (a rather big expensive canary) in the renewable coal mine, Texas is the first miner to pass out.
I don't care if my neighbor wants to commit eco-assisted suicide, but I do care if he drags me down with him.
It will depend. Does Texas have a lot of the Wind Turbines that froze. If Abbott uses a natural disaster he has no control over to push for greater energy independence, he will not be blamed. This is a natural disaster no different than a hurricane or tornado. A strong response to a once in a 100 year event will deflect any blame. A tepid response and Abbott is done. He did not create the storm and the state does not own the power companies. But he will own the response to a natural disaster.
......
Did the oil refinery workers - whom there must be millions - vote for the politicians who put these Don Quijote windmills in place??? How did this happen? I don’t get it.
Abbott and Perry are the reason the state closed coal and switched to T Boone Pickens windmills. He doesn’t get to use the disaster he helped create. He is so busy showing how woke he is that he has screwed the state. He and Perry are too busy trying to move California in and they are destroying the state.
“Does Texas have a lot of the Wind Turbines that froze.”
I heard that TX gets 23% of it’s electricity from windmills (when they work).😀
From the article: "Some wind turbine generators were iced, but nearly twice as much power was wiped out at natural gas and coal plants." This appears to be a colossal screw-up at all energy sources.
A week ago Texas was all about "We need to secede". A few inches of snow and some cold temperatures later Texas is shivering in the dark and calling for federal disaster assistance. I can't be the only one who finds that amusing.
Abbott was saying the owners of the Turbine system was suppose to have back up energy plan and he was mad about that and opening investigation.
Feel bad for the Texans. My brother in law has been without electricity for 15hrs and he used his grill to cook as he has an electric stove. That is one reason I will never have electric stove. When our power was out in winter or other seasons, we had gas stove for heat and cooking.
Texas has 11000 wind turbines (T Boone Pickens made a killing) and most of them froze. Their plated capacity is 25000 megawatts and at one point they were getting like 1800. As a result the compressors in the natural gas systems lost power and so the gas generators in some cases were disabled, A cascade of failure due to reliance on intermittent power sources.