Things are very very bad in Texas

[Jirel]

30. Texan here. This is not entirely true.

It’s not a cascade failure. It’s a stupid computer algorithm.

ERCOT promised rolling blackouts, but it was mostly BS. That’s not how their algorithm works. Let’s say it‘s about to lose 10,000 KWH. It needs to find that somewhere to shut off. It looks for the most densely packed area with 10,000 KWH to cut, and drops it. There is no automatic mechanism to turn it back on, however. In a few instances, power is coming back up after far longer than promised. In many, it is not. I have a good friend in trouble halfway across the state. He has been down for 2 days. Why did he pull the short straw in his exurb/rural edge community? Because they’re just far out of DFW to have cheap land to build some plants that run 24/7, and the community around them is exploding. Tons of cheap new houses, all running 100% electric, populated by angry Dump cultists screaming that it’s their right to use as much power as they want, and blaming the Dems... despite the fact that Texas’ power woes were engineered by Rethugs in a supermajority Rethug state, to avoid that worst of all Rethug banes, regulation of the power grid.

Rural areas are not as dire as stated. I live in rural TX. Most of my neighbors have at least a gas stove, or propane heat, or a wood burning stove, or a fireplace. They are NOT for “ambiance.” WTF?!? That’s like saying millennials are poor because they constantly eat avocado toast and Starbucks. It’s just stupid. Everyone out in these parts (south central Texas) who has those, uses them for HEAT, many times through the year. We DO get cold here. We get into the teens and single digits YEARLY, sometimes several days at a time, just not quite this extreme with below zero wind chills. It is only somewhat true for people living in cheap suburban housing or apartments, but even in the cities, many houses have heat sources that work on more than just electrical power.

The bigger problem is supplies. You can’t get gas or propane any more, in our town. People are running out of firewood. Our local Facebook groups are lit up as we all run to each other's aid with bread, or water, or firewood, or whatever will keep our neighbors safe.

It’s BS that it hardly ever freezes in San Antonio. It freezes EVERY DAMNED YEAR, often I to the teens and sometimes single digits. Multiple times. I’ve gone bar hopping on the Riverwalk with all fountains and shallow pools frozen, and thick ice threatening to send people sliding into the river. We lose people in house fires EVERY DAMNED YEAR because it’s so cold that someone tries to put that space heater right next to the bed, or tries burning a portable charcoal grill in the living room. The only thing different this year, is how LONG it lasted without a thaw, and that we had sub-zero wind chills for extended periods, AND people couldn’t get out for supplies because the roads were frozen AND the freezing rain nailed a lot of people’s heat exchangers and they didn’t know how to unfreeze them. It was just that perfect storm (pun intended) of multiple factors that people can easily handle 1-2 at a time, but not all at once.

As for the rest of that lying article... I could go on all day. Yes, Felicia, we DO have insulated pipes. Don’t give me that crap. Some people don’t, but if they can afford some pool noodles or short chunks of insulation, or what have you, AT ALL, after their first freeze they got some. The problem is that it doesn’t matter how much insulation you have on the pipes, when you’ve lost power more than a few hours and it’s 0 degrees out and your houses aren’t insulated to northern standards, and it never gets over freezing for days, yes, the pipes will freeze.

Boiling water is not an issue. As stated before, we almost all have multiple ways to heat things. Also, the #1 cooking obsession here is BBQ. Everyone has an outdoor grill of some sort to boil water, if push came to shove. The only people who don’t are apartment-dwellers. Here in town we’re providing them as much relief as possible... such as bringing them clean water.

This article feels like either massive exaggeration, or one that’s written by a transplant living in an inner-city apartment. It’s not like we’re all ok here. We’re not. But neither are we Texans helpless or hopelessly screwed, or unfamiliar with cold and ice and even snow, or totally unprepared. It’s pretty insulting.