Wednesday s guests included:
State Rep. Donna Howard: Howard is a Democrat whose district includes much of Travis County. She serves on the House Appropriations and State Affairs Committees and recently participated in hearings on the causes of the blackout. She has been a House member since 2006.
Robert Bryce: Bryce is a journalist and author in Austin whose most recent book, The Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations was released in 2020. He has written frequently on the difficulty of the U.S. becoming energy independent. His works have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes. He is a former senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Watch live, get live analysis as Texas lawmakers question ERCOT, energy regulators about power outages Madlin Mekelburg, Bob Sechler and Asher Price, Austin American-Statesman This is the largest train wreck: Texas senator questions ERCOT CEO about power grid
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Texas lawmakers have embarked on a series of hearings examining the power outages that swept the state amid a frigid winter storm, plunging more than 4 million people into darkness and leaving them without heat and in some cases, water for days.
There are two hearings happening at the Texas Capitol on Thursday, starting at 9 a.m. You can watch live video footage of both hearings here or continue below for live updates through the day and be sure to follow our reporters on Twitter: Asher Price, Bob Sechler, John Moritz and Madlin Mekelburg.
In their first effort at getting to the bottom of an energy calamity that left millions of Texans in the dark amid subfreezing temperatures last week and potentially contributed to dozens of deaths, state lawmakers Thursday heard from utility executives, grid operators and regulators and found fingers pointing in lots of directions.
With a dash of introspection all the players expressed sadness at the tragedy that unfolded in Texas, and some even hinted they bore some of the blame the exchanges between lawmakers and witnesses in simultaneous hearings by Texas House and Senate committees doled out plenty of criticism:
• An official with the state grid operator said the bulk of the outages came from the impact of the weather, and said there is currently no legal authority to force companies to winterize.