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ERCOT asked feds to pause federal environmental limits during winter storm
Robert Arnold, Investigative Reporter
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As last week’s historic winter storm was rolling across Texas, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, was asking the federal government to temporarily suspend environmental limits for several power producers.
The request, signed by ERCOT CEO Bill Magness, asked for the U.S. Department of Energy to issue an emergency order and declare an “electric reliability emergency exists within the state of Texas that requires intervention by the Secretary.”
The request was sent on Feb. 14 and asks the Acting Secretary of Energy, David Huizenga, to allow certain power plants to operate at maximum levels and be allowed to exceed federal limits on emissions and wastewater release until Feb. 19.
Feb 23, 2021
By now, most Americans understand something went very wrong in Texas last week. Early efforts to play the blame game were off the mark, as some wanted to spread the idea the entire fiasco was the fault of wind and solar energy operations that had been frozen by an unusually harsh and long-lasting winter blast.
Texas isn’t known for priding itself on its renewable energy network, however. It is known for its pride in independence, thumbing its nose at the federal government, and fossil fuels. Most of the time, that combination appears to work quite well for Texas. Now we know what happens when it doesn’t.
At the height of this week’s winter storm, nearly 5 million homes and businesses lost power. Just a week before, state energy leaders assured the public Texas’ power grid was ready and able to handle the coming storm. So, what went wrong?