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Wash. state Desk Jet

(3,426 posts)
Thu Feb 18, 2021, 10:05 PM Feb 2021

The power's back on in Texas but the crisis continues

Source: cnn

(CNN)Americans should be able to expect a few simple things from their politicians: Tell the truth, don't be a hypocrite, keep the lights on and the water running But just like mayors get in trouble when streets aren't plowed or trash isn't picked up, governors get blame when the state power system fails, even though the power systems operate largely on their own. Or in the case of most of Texas, entirely on its own.
The government also gets the blame when it can't quickly mobilize to help people who are stuck in a major natural disaster get warm, get fed and flush their toilets. The weather is going to do what it's going to do, but the warnings that climate change will cause more and more freak weather events have been getting louder for years, and it is the job of the government to be ready to relieve these crises.

Taking responsibility. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday he takes responsibility for the failure of his state's unique power system -- formed in 1970, long before he was in politics -- to plan for the catastrophic ice and cold that shut his state down and turned off the lights.
The system commonly known as ERCOT, is more formally, and inappropriately this week, called the Electric Reliability Commission of Texas.
"I'm taking responsibility for the current status of ERCOT. Again, I find what has happened unacceptable," Abbott said, and called on lawmakers to change the system and noted top officials overseeing it were not from Texas.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/18/politics/what-matters-february-18/index.html

21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The power's back on in Texas but the crisis continues (Original Post) Wash. state Desk Jet Feb 2021 OP
powers back but food and gas? qazplm135 Feb 2021 #1
And water? soothsayer Feb 2021 #2
I have it qazplm135 Feb 2021 #3
Hope it gets sorted out soon soothsayer Feb 2021 #4
I was asked to follow someone who was in search of gas because he was worried he would get stranded Sapient Donkey Feb 2021 #17
We have water but it isn't drinkable. summer_in_TX Feb 2021 #11
Water is still an issue where I am. I have water, but there's still a boil water notice Sapient Donkey Feb 2021 #16
There is so much fucking water damage from burst pipes... RockRaven Feb 2021 #5
i may have a busted pipe rdking647 Feb 2021 #6
You probably know how to shut off water but here soothsayer Feb 2021 #18
The wisdom of uninsulated houses must make for high cooling bills bucolic_frolic Feb 2021 #7
Most houses in Texas are well insulated. Scruffy1 Feb 2021 #12
I don't know bucolic_frolic Feb 2021 #13
they run pipes thru unheated attics rdking647 Feb 2021 #21
oh NOW that POS Abbott is "taking responsibility"? Skittles Feb 2021 #8
They're all such pieces of shit, all these lying, despicable fuckers ... mr_lebowski Feb 2021 #9
I am hoping this wakes up some conservatives in Texas Skittles Feb 2021 #10
His personal responsibility will be to direct blame away from the Texas politicians Ford_Prefect Feb 2021 #14
Also, isn't the claim of deregulated markets being cheaper turning out to be BS? Sapient Donkey Feb 2021 #19
It's like the fee structures for Cell phones or Satellite TV, or some streaming outfits. Ford_Prefect Feb 2021 #20
Oh, the crisis continues alright.... Montauk6 Feb 2021 #15

qazplm135

(7,447 posts)
3. I have it
Thu Feb 18, 2021, 10:07 PM
Feb 2021

not sure about others, water pressure is a bit wonky. But if you want food or gas, boy it's slim pickens right now.

Sapient Donkey

(1,568 posts)
17. I was asked to follow someone who was in search of gas because he was worried he would get stranded
Fri Feb 19, 2021, 02:57 PM
Feb 2021

He said he was trying to find gas the other day but had to give up or risk being stranded. He was able to find a station down the street this time, though. I'm assuming they didn't have gas the other day, or he would have got it there.

summer_in_TX

(2,680 posts)
11. We have water but it isn't drinkable.
Thu Feb 18, 2021, 11:33 PM
Feb 2021

After shutting down for about seven hours yesterday after pressure dropped, the water is brackish and the pressure is still low. We'll have to boil water for quite awhile, I think. Whatever agency is charged with testing water samples and okays them as safe for drinking is bound to be backed up.

We aren't yet putting fuel pressure on the electric grid, keeping few devices going and only bumping the thermostat back up to 65 degrees. Maybe Saturday we'll feel safe going back to 70 degrees.

Sapient Donkey

(1,568 posts)
16. Water is still an issue where I am. I have water, but there's still a boil water notice
Fri Feb 19, 2021, 02:51 PM
Feb 2021

Most people I know who lost electricity (I was lucky and didn't) seem to have their power back up, but everyone I know is still having water issues. That's a sampling of people not just from my area, but from other parts of the state too.

RockRaven

(14,782 posts)
5. There is so much fucking water damage from burst pipes...
Thu Feb 18, 2021, 10:09 PM
Feb 2021

And a tremendous amount of it would have been avoidable if TX didn't fetishize antiregulationism.

 

rdking647

(5,113 posts)
6. i may have a busted pipe
Thu Feb 18, 2021, 10:16 PM
Feb 2021

if so its outside feeding my hose spigots so no danger inside the house all ill end up with is a flooded yard.
No way to know for sure until the snow melts tomorrow or saturday

bucolic_frolic

(42,666 posts)
7. The wisdom of uninsulated houses must make for high cooling bills
Thu Feb 18, 2021, 10:16 PM
Feb 2021

I mean insulation is not just for cold weather. It helps in hot weather too.

Scruffy1

(3,239 posts)
12. Most houses in Texas are well insulated.
Fri Feb 19, 2021, 01:40 AM
Feb 2021

Old houses like mine built in 1959 weren't, but everything built since the 70's is insulated to the UBC of the time it was built. The first thing I did when I bought this old one was to insulate the walls and attic. Of course when you have no heat to lose it makes no difference.

bucolic_frolic

(42,666 posts)
13. I don't know
Fri Feb 19, 2021, 09:56 AM
Feb 2021

I live in the northeast and run a very cold house to cut heating bills. I have R-12 in the walls and roof, no foam, wood siding. It takes 3-4 weeks in December for the internal temperature drop to 38-40 degrees, no heat. Sunlight provides a little daytime energy gain, but not much. So I'm not understanding how a week of frigid weather is freezing pipes in TX if houses are insulated.

 

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)
9. They're all such pieces of shit, all these lying, despicable fuckers ...
Thu Feb 18, 2021, 11:09 PM
Feb 2021

Their whole bullshit game has gotten older than dust ...

Skittles

(152,964 posts)
10. I am hoping this wakes up some conservatives in Texas
Thu Feb 18, 2021, 11:13 PM
Feb 2021

not sure though, because the cult mentality runs deep in Texas

Ford_Prefect

(7,817 posts)
14. His personal responsibility will be to direct blame away from the Texas politicians
Fri Feb 19, 2021, 10:05 AM
Feb 2021

who were paid off to vote for Deregulation and promoted it as Texan independence and market based financial wisdom.

He will find a way to blame the technical faults on anyone else but the most recent derivative of the GOP. He will insist that the answer is in his hands and that good Texans need not worry too much about it.

He will then proceed to bury the problem one more time behind a smokescreen of claims of outside interference. The one problem he will encounter is that the whole system is built so it is not subject to outside interference. Like his responses to COVID he will aver that the experts are wrong and the superior wisdom is to build another Texas sized disaster using local contractors and localized ordinances.

And that whatever they do should not be beholden to the Liberal Democrats in DC who only want to steal Texan's birthright to make and live in their own personal hell. Along with the endless chorus of the Texas GOP chanting dirges to liberal ideals and informed, progressive, common sense state government.

They will do anything to protect the profits of their patrons and sponsors including the mass-murder of thousands of citizens due to the built-in neglect enshrined in deregulation policy. Rick "Big-Hair" Perry himself has said that regulation is an Un-Texan and unnatural abomination. He ought to know having spent such a productive time working in the heart of the DC Beast.

Sapient Donkey

(1,568 posts)
19. Also, isn't the claim of deregulated markets being cheaper turning out to be BS?
Fri Feb 19, 2021, 03:17 PM
Feb 2021

I remember trying to figure out how all that stuff worked a ways back, and it seemed like prices for most people went up compared to before and even now the prices in Texas regulated municipal cooperatives tend to be cheaper. The entire system is confusing and seems designed to make certain people lots of money.

Ford_Prefect

(7,817 posts)
20. It's like the fee structures for Cell phones or Satellite TV, or some streaming outfits.
Fri Feb 19, 2021, 04:47 PM
Feb 2021

It is meant to be just confusing enough that no one can make sense of it. What it ultimately means is that the price you pay has little to do with anything other than how much they can gull you out of. As with financial derivatives and health insurance the value changes often and at the whims of those who can figure out one more way to put a finger in the pie that you must pay for.

The alternative would probably cost the end user a bit less but it would deprive those addicted to the gamble that is profiteering in the domestic, as opposed to industrial, energy market of the fix they so desperately need, along with the kind of uncertainty which underlies the paranoia at the heart of GOP politics.

Montauk6

(8,045 posts)
15. Oh, the crisis continues alright....
Fri Feb 19, 2021, 02:11 PM
Feb 2021

These right-wing conservatives and their ideology still have a political presence. Frustrating as hell.

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