Great comments, all. Dave, you make a very compelling argument that I am willing to accept, while sitting here in the friozen south, with no power (for six hours so far this time!). We might have been able to enjoy the beautiful snow if it weren't for having to fix generators in the middle of the (again, frigid) night and worry about how bad the damage will reveal to be if and when it stays above freezing for a little while. Oh, and no running water for the last two days. I had to ask Mr. Ed; it seems much longer.
But, we have the woodstove, so we're warm(ish), lots of food and plenty of wine. I guess we will make it through.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Hey, some of you probably thought I was dead. Well, sorry, Democrats, no such luck. Didn’t have another heart event, didn’t contract the ‘rona, the website isn’t down again. So yay on all of that.
What did happen, though, is we have no power at our home. Haven’t had any since 6:00 a.m. Monday, and it now looks like we won’t have any again until Friday at the earliest. In case you hadn’t heard, the entire state of Texas looks an awful lot like Alaska right now. Ok, well, West Texas looks more like South Dakota, but you get the picture. We’re covered up in snow and ice, the low temperature where I live near Fort Worth was -1 Fahrenheit this morning, we haven’t seen a temperature at my house above freezing since last Wednesday, and won’t see one until Friday. Again, that’s if we’re lucky.
Guess what? Texas does not do a good job of preparing for this kind of weather event. Which makes sense given that we don’t see this kind of stuff but about once a decade. However, we do see it. The last time we had a similar event was exactly a decade ago, in fact, on February 2-3, 2011.
So, while it is understandable, I suppose, that the folks at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) admit that they simply do not have contingency plans for this kind of severe winter event, I can’t help wondering why not? After all, the rolling blackouts they implemented 10 years ago during that ice event caused a public uproar that resulted in a series of hearings and rulemakings that were supposed to help ensure the grid’s resiliency was fortified to withstand exactly this sort of weather.
Yet, here we are again, and no one at ERCOT or the state’s main infrastructure provider – ONCOR – appears capable of providing a coherent answer why. Frankly, I’m beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t just force ERCOT to take the “R” – for Reliability – out of its name to make it more properly descriptive of what it is the agency actually does. Or rename it “ERSCOT”, with the S standing for “semi-“.
Texans have in recent years made a sport out of making fun of California for its having faded into near-3rd world status where its power grid is concerned. Trust me, that’s a tone of fun. Rolling blackouts and brownouts have become a way of life for Californians as the Democrat policymakers there force their grid to rely far too much on intermittent energy sources like wind and solar at the expense of reliable baseload generation, which must be provided by fossil fuels like natural gas and coal, or by nuclear plants.
Unfortunately, and with little public fanfare, the Republican-led Texas government has also allowed wind power to take a steadily-growing role in the state’s power generation mix over the past decade. Last year, in fact, wind surpassed coal in terms of the percentage of electricity provided to the ERCOT-managed grid, delivering 23% of the total mix, coming in second only to natural gas power plants.
That’s all great so long as you’re willing to pay the price, much of which becomes hidden from ratepayers by ERCOT and the state’s electricity providers, so everybody can pretend to be happy about “going green.” It’s also not so great when well over half the turbines in the state freeze up in near-zero temperatures and 3-12 inches of snowfall.
In the wake of the 2011 event, which was caused mainly by coal-fired plants tripping offline as they froze up and ERCOT’s rolling blackouts including several very large natural gas compressor stations, which caused several natural gas power plants to also go offline, reforms were mandated to prevent ERCOT from denying electricity to those compressor stations. We do not yet know if those reforms worked or not, but several of the state’s natural gas pipeline companies have been experiencing deliverability issues over the last couple of days, so ERCOT’s silence on the matter does make you wonder.
Texas policymakers simply must act in the wake of this event to ensure that the state’s power grid is resilient enough to withstand this kind of severe winter weather event. It is an incredibly dangerous situation when more than 3 million Texans are without power as temperatures remain below freezing for a full week. Texas might look like Alaska and South Dakota right now, but Texans are simply not prepared to deal with this kind of weather for even a couple of days, much less for a week or more.
Californians have been conditioned by their Democrat policymakers to accept this sort of rolling blackout situation as their “new normal” so they can all virtue signal about how “green” they all are. Texans, on the other hand, would rather be warm and safe in their homes than waste time virtue signaling about the environment. Again, trust me on this: Ain’t nobody in Texas ready to happily accept this crap as a “new normal” in their lives.
The state’s policymakers had better take advantage of this disastrous situation to act to really improve the resiliency of the state’s power grid, or there will be hell to pay in next year’s elections.
This situation is simply not acceptable, even if it only happens once a decade. Enough is enough.
I’ll post more when I can.
That is all.
Today’s news moves at a faster pace than Whatfinger.com is the only real conservative alternative to Drudge, and deserves to become everyone’s go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
According to the lady at the energy company I spoke to earlier, they have reports of people dying in the cold. I guess it's not at all surprising.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Quote: Sanguine wrote in post #36According to the lady at the energy company I spoke to earlier, they have reports of people dying in the cold. I guess it's not at all surprising.
I'm sure the death toll will be stunning. This ought to end Abbott's political career. He's so weak and ineffectual. The only way out of this hell is secession and new conservative, intelligent leadership.
Quote: Sanguine wrote in post #36According to the lady at the energy company I spoke to earlier, they have reports of people dying in the cold. I guess it's not at all surprising.
I'm sure the death toll will be stunning. This ought to end Abbott's political career. He's so weak and ineffectual. The only way out of this hell is secession and new conservative, intelligent leadership.
Amen, sister!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
The death toll from all of this is going to be almost entirely comprised of addicts and alcoholics (simple descriptors, folks) freezing to death in their squalid little encampments. The Democrat mayors who encouraged and enabled this will rage at Abbott for having let the homeless die in the streets. It's what they do, and it's why Democrats encourage homelessness, irresponsibility and drug addiction. They simply provide the body count that they use to tell the rest of about how cruel Kapitalism (as in Das Kapital parlance) is. These mayors should be punished, but they won't be, because weak minded and weak willed people see them as champions of the poor.
Quote: Sanguine wrote in post #36According to the lady at the energy company I spoke to earlier, they have reports of people dying in the cold. I guess it's not at all surprising.
My mom in Austin was without power or food all day yesterday in her assisted living home.
My brother went over there and jerked her out of the facility and she spent the night with him and finally got some food.
She was as good as dead otherwise.
"If the Union is dissolved, I shall return to my native State, and share the miseries of the people, and save in defense will draw my sword on none" Robert E. Lee, February 1861 following hearing of Texas secession.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
ERCOT to change Texas energy prices to meet high demand amid winter storm https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/...9b-be6ad75316b4 A Public Utility Commission order stated that ERCOT should correct any past prices to reflect the current shortage of energy.
Author: KVUE Staff
Published: 7:19 AM CST February 16, 2021
Updated: 7:19 AM CST February 16, 2021
TEXAS, USA — With nearly 4 million Texans in need of power amid the winter storm that struck the state, demand for energy is exceptionally high. The demand has exceeded the supply that the state has to offer.
As a result, the Public Utility Commission of Texas held an emergency meeting on Monday where officials introduced an order that would adjust energy prices. The order said in part, "Energy prices should reflect scarcity of the supply. If customer load is being shed, scarcity is at its maximum, and the market price for the energy needed to serve that load should also be at its highest."
The order also stated that The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the organization that monitors Texas' power grid, should correct any past prices to reflect the current shortage of energy. However, there are caps in place in the order to make sure consumers are protected from skyrocketing prices. -- excerpt, rest at link above --
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Texas has its own electrical grid and plenty of excess power generation capability. Yet, right now, millions of Texans are freezing in the dark. Here’s why.
Texas both produces and consumes more electricity than any other state. Texas’ abundant natural resources, including natural gas, coal, and wind, are readily available to fuel our power plants.
Texas is the only one of the contiguous 48 states with its own stand-alone electricity grid, one of the three main grids in the U.S.: the Eastern Interconnection, Western Interconnection, and Texas Interconnection. The Texas Interconnection, which covers 213 of the 254 Texas counties, is managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. Portions of Texas near the state’s borders are covered by the eastern and western grids.
Texas produces more electricity than it consumes and maintains a buffer referred to as the “state’s reserve margin.” This margin ensures that we should never have to suffer from rolling blackouts like California.
Then why are so millions of Texans without power right now? Why are we dealing with rolling blackouts?
The answer is all-too-familiar: our relationship with the federal government.
In anticipation of this unprecedented power demand, Texas could have maxed out power generation. However, we couldn’t. Like a lowly beggar, Texas had to first ask for permission from the federal government to generate enough power to keep our people warm. Why? Because cranking up our power plants to full production might violate federal pollution limits.
There is a clear metaphor here. Texans were powerless because our elected officials ceded authority to a slow-moving, uncaring gaggle of federal bureaucrats.
TEXIT means that we never have to ask permission to do what’s best for our people.
When you are contacting your elected officials to demand a vote on TEXIT, remember that there are real consequences to us staying in the union. Right now, someone is suffering because of their indecision or opposition. That someone might be you, your family, or your neighbors.
*** UPDATE *** Click here to download the actual order from the federal Department of Energy which specifies ERCOT’s reasons for asking permission including that “…ERCOT has been alerted that numerous generation units will be unable to operate at full capacity without violating federal air quality or other permit limitations.”
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Unfrozen Cave Water Cooler
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The Unfrozen Cave
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