You've probably heard by now of the electric grid disaster in the state of Texas. As extremely cold temperatures, accompanied by snow and ice, blanketed the entire state, the power companies have been unable to meet the demand for electricity.Millions of Texans have been without any electricity -- some of them for more than two days.
This is inexcusable -- and it did not have to happen.
Our governor, and many of his right-wing cronies are trying to blame the disaster on the "green new deal" and renewable energy sources. That's a stupid and ludicrous argument. No part of the "green new deal" has been passed in Texas, and only a tiny percentage of energy in the state comes from renewable sources.
What is the real reason? The reason is because Texas Republican officials made sure that Texas had its own electric grid. They did that because they didn't want energy sources and electric producers to have to spend money to protect the system from sub-freezing temperatures. They mistakenly thought that was something Texas didn't have to worry about.
The rest of the nation is not having these problems. Why? Because they were smart enough to make sure their energy and electric sources were protected.
Texas did not do that -- and the blame must fall on the state's right-wing Republicans. They thought that squeezing more profits out for wealthy energy interests was more important than protecting the electric grid and its energy producers. They were wrong! And Texas consumers are paying the price.
Now we are hearing the cold snap was a once in a generation thing. That may have been true in the past, but probably not now. This country, and Texas, have been ignoring global climate change. This climate change is not just warming the globe, but has disrupted its weather patterns (including colder winters).
With the changing global weather patterns (due to our misuse of fossil fuels), we can't be sure this kind of cold weather disaster won't happen again for a long time. It could happen again next year, or in the next few years.
Texas must act to weatherize its energy sources and its electric grid. If the rest of the nation can dod it, so can Texas. It just requires some political will to require it. Whining about the costs of doing it should be ignored. We have listened to that whining for far too long -- and that is what has caused the current disaster.
But that is not enough. Winterizing our electric system is just a start. We must also start to take global climate change seriously -- and act to stop it. Failure to do so will just insure that more weather disasters (of all kinds) will happen in the futures, and happen more frequently.
We could start by kicking the GOP out of power in the state. They have shown they care more about the wealthy than the citizens of the state -- and that is unlikely to change.
