Fact-checking Infowars claim that Biden blocked Texas from increasing power before deadly storm
Daniel Funke, PolitiFact Texas
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SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
As millions of Texans regained power after a severe winter storm brought snow, ice and freezing temperatures, some conspiracy theorists tried to pin the widespread outage on the Biden administration.
On Feb. 20, InfoWars, a conspiracy website run by Alex Jones, published an article with the headline: Joe Biden’s Dept. of Energy Blocked Texas from Increasing Power Ahead of Killer Storm. An Emergency Order from the Biden administration’s Department of Energy shows Texas energy grid operator ERCOT was instructed to stay within green energy standards by purchasing energy from outside the state at a higher cost, throttling power output throughout the state ahead of a catastrophic polar vortex, the story says.
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NEWS BRIEFS
Texas power plants get emergency clearance to crank up output
WASHINGTON - The Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing several Texas power plants to produce as much electricity as possible, a move expected to violate anti-pollution rules that comes amid a deepening electricity crisis in the state that has cut power to millions of homes.
The Energy Department order, requested by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, authorizes power plants throughout the state to run a maximum output levels, even as such a move is anticipated to result in a violation of limits of pollution.
The order comes as millions of Texas households suffer rolling blackouts for the first time in a decade as an unprecedented Arctic freeze sends temperatures plummeting across much of the U.S. Large swaths of Dallas, Houston and other cities are being plunged into darkness for an hour at a time - and in some cases longer - as surging demand for heat pushes the power grid to th