Scrutiny of Texas power grid failure moves to Washington

Austin American-Statesman

The chief executive of the Texas grid operator, a state oil and gas regulator and the mayor of Houston appeared before a congressional panel Wednesday investigating the power outages during February's deadly Texas freeze.

The testimony before a virtual meeting of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations had a familiar feel of finger-pointing, echoing the flavor of state hearings held in February related to the outages, which left more than 50 Texans dead and many millions more desperate, cold and in the dark.

The hearing revealed other themes as federal officials take a closer look at how things devolved in Texas last month — already, federal agencies concerned with electricity reliability have started their own investigations.

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Brett Archibald tries to entertain his family as they try to stay warm in their Pflugerville home Feb. 16, when they were among the millions of Texans without power during last month's winter storm.

Democrats on the panel again and again linked the power outages to the consequence of a changing climate as they build momentum for proposals to increase renewable energy infrastructure nationally.

The lesson, said subcommittee chair U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., is that "extreme weather events are devastating and happening more frequently."

Republicans, meanwhile, pointed to the rise of renewable energy as an Achilles heel to energy grids — even though all sources of energy failed to some extent during the exceptionally cold temperatures.

Power lines can be seen connecting homes at Booker T. Washington Terraces in East Austin on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. The apartment complex has been without power for several days since a winter storm gripped the state, leaving millions without power.

Replacing nuclear plants and coal "with variable renewable sources could make (the grid) less resilient," said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.

Republicans also argued that grid problems were not unique to Texas as they tried to stave off federal regulation of the Texas grid.

“Texans can and will solve the problem within its borders," said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville.

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Damages from the power outages, set in motion by plunging, persistent cold weather, have been pegged at nearly $200 billion. Statewide, water service was disrupted for more than 12 million people as pipes froze and burst — an estimated 325 million gallons of water were lost in Austin alone due to burst pipes, according to Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros.

Audrey Gow, a volunteer for Austin Needs Water, lifts a case of bottled water to load into a vehicle during a water drive at the Long Center in Austin on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. Born out of winter storm that left millions without power, heat and water, the organization delivers cases of water and other supplies to residents still in need.

Testimony from the Texas witnesses Wednesday reflected the blame game that has already played out in hearings in Austin.

"Time and time again, the No. 1 problem that we heard reported from (oil and gas) operators was a lack of power at their production sites," Christi Craddick, chairwoman of the Texas Railroad Commission, told members of the panel, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

"The oil fields simply cannot run without power, making electricity the best winterization tool," she continued.

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Craddick's observation was an implicit criticism of power plant operators and the state grid operator.

But Bill Magness, chief executive of the state grid operator, the Electric Reliability of Council, said, "ERCOT is not a policymaking body."

"We implement the policies adopted by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature," said Magness, who was fired in March by the ERCOT board but remains at the helm for at least another month.

FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2021, file photo people line up to fill their empty propane tanks in Houston. A Democratic senator is calling for federal investigations into possible price gouging of natural gas in the Midwest and other regions following severe winter storms that plunged Texas and other states into a deep freeze that caused power outages in million of homes and businesses. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner bluntly blamed Texas state officials who, he said, "intentionally chose to be dismissive of climate change and the science associated with it."

"As a result, in February 2021, there was massive statewide system failure," Turner said.

Both Democrats and Republicans said they wanted to steer clear of politics, but Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Dallas, said, "This happened because of the neglect Republicans in Austin have shown toward the grid."

He, in turn, was upbraided by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, who said Veasey's "extremely partisan rhetoric" is "not helpful and that’s not smart" when it comes to figuring out solutions on Texas grid failures.

Later, Crenshaw interrupted Turner as he was answering a question, asking him to elaborate later via phone: “You can text me back every once in a while. I have a long list of nonresponses from you on my phone.”