1. Republicans were in power when that happened (Bush administration). The northeastern grid is under federal regulation and monitoring by federal agencies. 2. In response to that event, the federal government passed legislation that mandated improvements in reliability and load balancing to prevent that sort of thing from happening again. This isn't a partisan thing. The Republican controlled government of the US responded and passed laws designed to shore up the grid. Texas (which is not tied to federal regulation) didn't enact parallel rules that focused on improving reliability of its own grid. That's a failure unique to the Texas government.
No point in involving politics over this. Some people knee jerk and blame the other team for every problem in their life.
I wouldn't really call temps below 0 for most of Texas and in the upper single digits to low teens across Houston a once in a decade event. Especially being below freezing for several days. I totally agree with the ERCOT needing to go away though. They act like Texas is going to secede lol.
We’re headed to dripping springs where we have a house on loan to us - no water but power we’ll take warmth as of now
To be clear I'm not defending the situation or handling of it. I just thought that reaction to it was comical, at best.
It is about DEREGULATION. It took 10 years before rates came down. And ERCOT has been ignored and neglected. Trump is a symptom of the GOP. Big Business and the Rich is all they care about.
Texas Republicans have been so focused on making money for their friends, they have negligent with the Power Grid and Health Care....among other things.
This is going to be a climate change consequence. The polar vortex is going to fall off kilter more often. As it warms in the arctic, it actually pushes arctic air south. This type of thing will happen more often. Climate change is generally synonymous with warmer weather but the impact of warming in regions like the arctic can have strange effects (like this). You really will see this happen more often. We are getting these types of hyper cold waves every few years in Minnesota now. And every now and then you'll get one that stretches south. As the arctic warms, it will cause the polar vortex to fall apart and shift south.
Yup, total **** show, total incompetence. Lost power at 430ish this morning (still out; Clear Lake area) No water (no hot water anyways; hopefully no busted pipes) Stay safe out there. ❤️
Abbott and Republicans chose to deregulate and leave it up to private companies to manage the infrastructure. Problem? Profit is the private companies' motivation. As someone else said, Federal guidelines would have forced the State of Texas to do improvements and be better prepared. This is decades in the making. Republican **** citizens again.
PNW finally thawing out. 2-4 inches of ice mixed with snow. Bought two 4-wheel drive vehicles about a year ago to handle this (we get this about one a year for a few days)…and to destroy the ozone layer. Feel vindicated after both plowed right through the slush with ease. Be safe Houston!!!