What happens when Republicans run things

Texas is now freezing in the dark. Why?

1. The vast majority of electrical power generation in Texas comes from burning natural gas, thanks to the absolute domination of the fossil fuel industry, aided and abetted by the Republicans, who dominate state politics. (That didn't stop many of them from making the loony-bird claim that the outages were somehow the fault of Texas's tiny renewable energy industry.) So when that single source went down due to freezing pipes, there was no backup generation.

2. Thanks to the Texas cult philosophy of "WE IS INDERPENDENT!!!," Texas is the only state in the nation with its own separate power grid; interties with other grids are sharply limited. (Independence is just swell right up until the moment when you need help.)

3. Texas has a pay-for-play government system, meaning that important government posts, such as energy regulators, are doled out to Republican party donors. This means, of course, that the people running things have no clue.

4. Climate change denial has kept Texas officials from acknowledging, and therefore planning for, increasingly severe and prolonged bouts of cold weather.

Texans are learning that maybe living in a corrupt oligarchy isn't so great after all. Republican governments really show their true colors in times of crisis, when the average Joe is expected to, in the words of one Texas mayor, "fend for yourself."

Kevin doesn't understand risk reward.  Texas gets such weather once about every 20 years, and it lasts for less than a week.  Should they spend billions and billions of dollars for weather proofing systems when the upgrades won't likely won't be needed for another 20 years?  What about the maintainence cost of those upgrades over those 20 years? 

The prudent person does not upgrade the systems, but instead deals with the issues for a combined 15 days over a lifetime.

El Paso is not on the same grid as Dallas and most of Texas. and neither are neighboring states whose climate is the same as Texas.  The difference -  tHey can tap into the national grid when their local one  is experiencing issues which is why the people of El Paso are not freezing and starving like the rest of the state.

Texas decided they didnt want no Big Gubmit energy feds breathing down their neck and they could do a better job managing on their own grid.     Hows that working out?

The scary thing is we sent their former governor to be our national Secretrary of Energy even when he confessed he didnt know what that department does.    We dodged a bullet there.

There are some Texas officials making that same argument.    Have fun with that one.

And how's this for risk/reward?   Texas's unregulated electricity is based upon pure supply demand dynamics which means the price shoots through the roof when shutdowns occur.   People are now getting $1000 electric bills in Texas even when they only have electricty 20% of the time.

Boilerman's energy paradise results in 4 digit electric bills.

My best friend Pete lives in a 3700 square food house abour 30 miles NNW of downtown Houston.  He also has a 4600 square foot house on Lake Conroe, which is about 75 miles NNW of Houston.  His power was off for a full day and it's been intermittant for several more days.

I'll get an energy report from Pete and I'm certain that it will not be what Kevin reports.  Kevin still thinks that the US is doing a horrible job of distributing vaccine doses and that his state is getting screwed.  Too much PMSNBC.

Well if Pete is happy, that's all that matters.

I see that Gov. Abbot, the great intellectual giant that he is, says the problem is the Green New Deal--you know, the one that hasn't been passed yet.  People are dying, but if "Pete" says everything is good, then it's good.

By that logic, ships shouldn't be equipped with lifeboats, because they hardly ever sink. You shouldn't keep a first aid kit in your car, because how often are you going to need it? Why learn CPR---how likely is it that someone will have a heart attack right in front of you?

Also, Boiler must not know where Texas is, because his statement that it only gets below freezing and/or snows there once every 20 years is, um, what's the right word....breathtakingly ignorant.

"Kevin thinks..." followed by a Boiler lie. I think vaccine distribution is going well now. Under Trump, it was going horribly. Boiler, your pathetic habit of putting words in my mouth shows how unable you are to argue coherently.

And what do the experiences of your wealthy buddy Pete have to do with the incompetence of Texas officials in managing the state's power grid?

Well, Texas officials should be happy, because they opened their legs for the fossil fuel industry and achieved "energy independence." So they are now independently freezing. There's a certain delicious irony there.

The weather that Texas is experiencing is a direct consequence of climate change, which creates stronger and more widespread polar vortices--a phenomenon that used to be confined to Canada and occasionally, areas directly bordering Canada. However, Republican dogma rejects the reality of climate change, so in Texas, they've done virtually nothing to mitigate its effects. Reality is now biting them on the butt.