General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"People should probably be worried": Texas hasn't done enough to prevent another winter blackout, ex
I am worried
Link to tweet
Thats because the state still hasnt fixed the critical problem that paralyzed his plants: maintaining a sufficient supply of natural gas, Morgan said.
Natural gas slowed to a trickle during the storm, leaving the Midlothian facility and 13 other Vistra power plants that run on gas without enough fuel. The shortage forced Vistra to pay more than $1.5 billion on the spot market for whatever gas was available, costing the company in a matter of days more than twice the amount it usually spends in an entire year. Even then, plants were able to operate at only a fraction of their capacity; the Midlothian facility ran at 30% of full strength during the height of the storm......
But energy experts say Texas grid remains vulnerable, largely because newly written regulations allowed too much wiggle room for companies to avoid weatherization improvements that can take months or years. More than nine months after Februarys storm which could exceed Hurricane Harvey as the costliest natural disaster in state history a lack of data from regulators and industry groups makes it impossible to know how many power and gas facilities are properly weatherized.
brer cat
(24,401 posts)harumph
(1,867 posts)I'm not really sure what (if anything) has been done except
the writing of a few memos.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)I hope they have better housing and can weather this.
tanyev
(42,354 posts)so most people's power will stay on and Abbott will sprain his shoulder patting himself on the back over how he "fixed" the entire grid.
Johnny2X2X
(18,731 posts)The system will fail catastrophically some year, but probably not the next few years so Abbot doesn't care, he'll be gone by then.
Invest in infrastructure and long term projects? There's just no reason for Republicans to do it, because they don't care what happens in 5 or 10 years. I know we got a $1.2T infrastructure deal, but it's not enough considering the issues have been largely ignored for decades.
Most Americans don't travel enough to realize hoe embarrassing our infrastructure is. If they do travel it's usually to some touristy island that is borderline 3rd world outside the resorts, so they compare the US to that. They don't understand how much nicer the airports are in places like Korea, Japan, Singapore, and most of Europe. They don't get to see how amazing the Euro rail system is that makes so much accessible so easily and quickly. They don't get that roads in a lot of these countries are so much better maintained and designed in places like Germany or Sweden. And if they don't get things like that, they surely don't get that many countries are going to renewables and it reduces costs in the long run while saving the environment.
Short term thinking is just built into our political system, it's built into our economy that looks for profits right now rather than investments. It permeates our culture in every way.