Governor Bid to Frame Clean Energy Backfires
as Public Learns Facts on Power Grid Meltdown

Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside
February 18, 2021

Governor Greg Abbott and his GOP allies are facing a massive backlash for the Texas power system crash and their failed attempt to hide the truth on its cause.

“Ideology, greed, and incompetence at the state level have come together as a perfect storm to threaten the lives of Texas families,” said Elizabeth Valdez, director of the Network of Texas IAF Organizations.  

Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly of Dallas Area Interfaith echoed experts who've portrayed the Texas electric grid's collapse as a predictable event after state leaders failed to heed years of warnings on the fragile nature of the power system that had grown obsolete.

“The storm may have been an act of God, but the devastation of the electrical grid shut down is an act of sheer negligence,” Kelly said. “There needs to be a full accounting by state leaders as to what happened and what is being done to address this critical need.”

The GOP's damage control strategy has been a disaster in its own right - having gotten under way on Tuesday when Abbott sought to blame frozen windmills for the disaster that was actually due to the system's heavy reliance on natural gas.

The Texas governor appeared to be trying to distance himself from the statement on Wednesday after being called out by Bill Gates and others for his false characterization of the Texas power grid. But that didn't stop some fellow Texas Republicans like Rick Perry and U.S. Senator Dan Crenshaw of Houston from picking up on Abbott's deceptive spin and parroting it on Wednesday.

Perry - the former Texas governor who served as Donald Trump's first energy secretary - claimed in a televised discussion with U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that Texans would rather go for days without electricity than have a power system with more federal oversight.

Perry's observation appeared to be in a league with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's outrageous statement last spring about older people being willing to die from the coronavirus to help the economy rebound.

Abbott said that renewable energies account for more than 10 percent of the power grid here even though the figure is closer to 7 percent. But Abbott's attempt to shift the blame backfired amid revelations that sharp natural gas production cutbacks for the sake of saving costs caused the lights to go out on a third of the Lone Star State if not more.

more to come ...