The Lege This Week: Adventures in Circular Finger Pointing
The main theme to emerge from the Lege’s blackout hearings? Mea culpas for thee, but not for me.
Witness Kirk Morgan, at table left, testifies as the Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources holds a joint public hearing to consider the factors that led to statewide electrical blackouts, February 25, 2021, in Austin. AP Photo/Eric Gay
The main theme to emerge from the Lege’s blackout hearings? Mea culpas for thee, but not for me.
Witness Kirk Morgan, at table left, testifies as the Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources holds a joint public hearing to consider the factors that led to statewide electrical blackouts, February 25, 2021, in Austin. AP Photo/Eric Gay
Power Outages Main Cause of Oil, Gas Shut-Ins
Bloomberg 2/26/2021 Naureen S. Malik, Joe Carroll, David Wethe and Mark Chediak
(Bloomberg) Texas lawmakers’ attempt to understand why the state’s power system failed last week yielded plenty of blame but few clear answers on how to prevent a similar crisis in the future.
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In two marathon hearings, lawmakers grilled the state’s biggest power providers, its grid operator and regulators about the blackouts that left more than four million homes and businesses without heat, light and water during a deep winter freeze.
Executives from Calpine Corp., Vistra Corp. and NRG Energy Inc. blamed natural gas-supply shortages, grid disturbances and a lack of communication from the grid operator known as Ercot. Ercot, meanwhile, said it simply followed the rules and direction set by the Public Utility Commission which, in turn, said it lacked authority to tell Ercot what to do.
The Texas Senate held a hearing on the ERCOT power outage that left more than four million state residents without power during last week's crippling winter storm.
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(Bloomberg) Texas lawmakers are grilling power executives, regulators and others for a second day about why the state’s energy system failed last week. So far the hearings have led to plenty of finger-pointing but few clear answers about how to prevent a similar crisis in the future.
Executives from Calpine Corp., Vistra Corp. and NRG Energy Inc. blamed natural gas-supply shortages, grid disturbances and a lack of communication from the grid operator known as Ercot. Ercot, meanwhile, said it simply followed the rules and direction set by the state’s Public Utility Commission which, in turn, said it lacked authority to tell Ercot what to do.