Don’t count on Abbott to prevent the next disaster
What hit Texas, just over two weeks ago, was a winter storm, not an earthquake, but the aftershocks will reverberate. The 4 million Texans who lost power may have their electricity back, but for those families who lost loved ones, there is no return to normal.
Hundreds of thousands of Texans must still boil their water, and people across the state worry about the costs of fixing busted pipes and cleaning up other damage. Hanging over the state are questions of who will take responsibility among elected leaders and energy companies for cleaning up this disaster, one magnified by deregulation and short-term political thinking.
A catastrophic act of nature was made worse by men and women who put profits over preparation, who were more devoted to preserving their deregulated markets than in protecting their customers from a debilitating storm and exorbitant electricity bills. What are they doing to prevent a repeat of this avoidable disaster that could end up being the costliest natural disaster in Texas history?
So far, not much.
In Texas House and Senate public hearings last week there was genuine bipartisan anger directed at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which operates Texas' public grid, and the Public Utility Commission, or PUC, which oversees it. Seven ERCOT board members have resigned, and this week, Deann T. Walker resigned as PUC chairwoman. In her resignation letter, Walker made it clear that others should share in the blame that led to the massive power outage. She wrote: “The gas companies, the Railroad Commission, the electric generators, the transmission and distribution utilities, the electric cooperatives, the municipally owned utilities, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and finally the Legislature all had the responsibility to foresee what could have happened and failed to take the necessary steps for the past ten years to address the issues that each of them could have addressed.” Walker is correct, but she left out one conspicuous name: Gov. Greg Abbott, the man who appointed her and the other PUC members who dissolved the agency's Oversight & Enforcement Division and cut ties with the Texas Reliability Entity, a nonprofit group that monitored and helped Texas enforce the state's electric reliability standards. Within four months, the PUC, with Abbott's approval, weakened its internal oversight apparatus and its external, independent monitor.
Abbott's office denies that weakening oversight was the reason or intent for these changes, which is difficult to believe when the reason for deregulation and Texas having its own power grid is to be relatively independent of oversight and enforcement.
It's also difficult to believe because of something Walker said during last week's public hearing when asked about an investigation into the power shortage. Saying the PUC didn't have the staff for a complete investigation, Walker suggested, “We may want to think about it and look into hiring a third party to help us with this.”
A third party? Perhaps something like, say, the Texas Reliability Entity?
Abbott has asked the Legislature to mandate the winterization and funding of energy plants, something he didn't do before the winter storm. But he hasn't said anything about re-engaging with the Texas Reliability Entity or any other external, independent body that would investigate the power outage and monitor electric reliability in the future.
It's fair to be skeptical of Abbott's commitment to this when his first instinct, upon being given a national platform to talk about this disaster, was to lie about renewable energy being the cause.
A governor who has yet to acknowledge his role in a disaster made worse by poor planning and an absence of concern isn't a governor who can be counted on to help prevent the next such disaster.