Texas Enabled the Worst Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Catastrophe in Recent U.S. History

[Nevilledog]

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Lexi Churchill
@LChurchilll
NEW: An investigation from @NBCNews, @propublica & @TexasTribune found February’s winter storm resulted in the largest carbon monoxide poisoning event in recent history.

No one had reported the scale and uneven impact of the poisonings. Here's how we did.

Texas Enabled the Worst Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Catastrophe in Recent U.S. History
They used their car to stay warm when a winter storm brought down the Texas power grid. In a state that doesn’t require carbon monoxide alarms in homes, they had no warning they were poisoning…
propublica.org
3:10 PM · Apr 29, 2021

https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-carbon-monoxide-poisoning

HOUSTON — When Shalemu Bekele awoke on the morning of Feb. 15, the town house he shared with his wife and two children was so cold, his fingers felt numb.

After bundling up in extra layers, Bekele looked out a frosted window: A winter storm had swept across Texas, knocking out power to millions of homes, including his own, and blanketing Houston in a thin layer of icy snow.

“It was beautiful,” Bekele, 51, recalled thinking as he headed outside to snap photos of his two children, ages 7 and 8, playing in their first snow. After a few minutes, he sent them back inside to warm up under blankets as he cleared ice off his car, unsure if he would be expected to drive into work.

Bekele’s wife, Etenesh Mersha, 46, meanwhile, made a fateful decision, one repeated by scores of Texas residents who lost electricity that week. Desperate to warm up, she went into their attached garage and turned the key to start her car. As the engine hummed, it provided power to run the car’s heater and charge her phone while she talked to a friend in Colorado — at the same time, filling her garage and home with a poisonous gas.

There was no carbon monoxide alarm in place to warn the family of the invisible danger. None was required under local or state law.

*snip*

[gratuitous]

1. Carbon monoxide alarms aren't required by state or local law

Because in by-god Texas, people have the freedom to die from carbon monoxide poisoning without any interference from the heavy hand of gummint regulation. And they LIKE it that way!