Tuesday, May 25: How to build a better grid
In each instance, lawmakers left
the state’s lightly regulated energy markets alone, choosing cheap electricity over a more stable system. As a result, experts say, the power grid that Texans depend on to heat and cool their homes and run their businesses has become less and less reliable and more susceptible to weather-related emergencies.
“Everyone has been in denial,” said Alison Silverstein, a consultant who works with the U.S. Department of Energy and formerly served as a senior adviser at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “They treat each individual extreme event as a one-off, a high-impact, low-frequency event, which means, ‘I hope it doesn’t happen again.’”
Fact-check: Is the Texas oil and gas industry 35% of the state economy?
PolitiFact s ruling: Mostly True
Here s why: Texas’ oil and gas sector took a tumble in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic was compounded by a Saudi Arabia-Russia price war that further devastated the global oil market.
In May, two weeks after crude oil prices turned negative for the first time in history, Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick spoke with the Texas Tribune giving updates on how the industry was handling the downturn.
“Last year, [oil and gas] was about 35% of the state s economy . and so [because this industry] is down . it s gonna affect everything,” Craddick said.