I’m a Dem here in Texas. Our wind turbines froze.

[Anonymous]

And now Ted Cruz has flown off to Cancun while his constituents freeze to death in a catastrophic storm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

El Paso is operating fine because they spent the last decade winterizing equipment to -10F. It cost a lot of money, but it paid off.

They are also separate from the ERCOT and share power with Mexico and New Mexico, but that didn't seem to play a big role. What mattered was the resiliency of their physical equipment.

https://kvia.com/news/el-paso/2021/02/15/el-pasos-not-seeing-power-outages-like-the-rest-of-texas-and-heres-why/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

And power outages happen all over blue states with heat waves that would be called overnight lows in the Texas summer. Going into the 90s in July of 2019 had DMV officials worried about blackouts while most Texans would be grateful for 90s temps in July and their systems would perform just fine at that demand/operating environment. California had rolling blackouts last year over what Texas could handle as a relatively average summer. Some of this is policy choices and some of it is that nobody builds systems to withstand these kind of events. Whether you’re in TX or CA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

El Paso is operating fine because they spent the last decade winterizing equipment to -10F. It cost a lot of money, but it paid off.

They are also separate from the ERCOT and share power with Mexico and New Mexico, but that didn't seem to play a big role. What mattered was the resiliency of their physical equipment.

https://kvia.com/news/el-paso/2021/02/15/el-pasos-not-seeing-power-outages-like-the-rest-of-texas-and-heres-why/

El Paso and its system is not currently experiencing a 4 standard deviation event. The comparison is off base. An earthquake or hurricane *could* hit Minnesota next week, but body has insurance for it up there and they certainly aren’t built to withstand it. Obviously this is a slight exaggeration to what Is happening in Texas, but you get the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

And power outages happen all over blue states with heat waves that would be called overnight lows in the Texas summer. Going into the 90s in July of 2019 had DMV officials worried about blackouts while most Texans would be grateful for 90s temps in July and their systems would perform just fine at that demand/operating environment. California had rolling blackouts last year over what Texas could handle as a relatively average summer. Some of this is policy choices and some of it is that nobody builds systems to withstand these kind of events. Whether you’re in TX or CA.

That's just not entirely true. DMV summers are notoriously brutal, even by Texas standards. 90+ degree brutally humid summer days with a heat index over 100 are the norm not the exception around here. We pay extra for an electrical system that has guaranteed backup supply and whose components are weatherized. Texas chose not to and is paying the proverbial piper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

El Paso is operating fine because they spent the last decade winterizing equipment to -10F. It cost a lot of money, but it paid off.

They are also separate from the ERCOT and share power with Mexico and New Mexico, but that didn't seem to play a big role. What mattered was the resiliency of their physical equipment.

https://kvia.com/news/el-paso/2021/02/15/el-pasos-not-seeing-power-outages-like-the-rest-of-texas-and-heres-why/

El Paso and its system is not currently experiencing a 4 standard deviation event. The comparison is off base. An earthquake or hurricane *could* hit Minnesota next week, but body has insurance for it up there and they certainly aren’t built to withstand it. Obviously this is a slight exaggeration to what Is happening in Texas, but you get the point.

They're part of the Western Grid instead of the Texas Grid. Isn't it strange how the areas of Texas that have redundancy through the national grid systems are still working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

And power outages happen all over blue states with heat waves that would be called overnight lows in the Texas summer. Going into the 90s in July of 2019 had DMV officials worried about blackouts while most Texans would be grateful for 90s temps in July and their systems would perform just fine at that demand/operating environment. California had rolling blackouts last year over what Texas could handle as a relatively average summer. Some of this is policy choices and some of it is that nobody builds systems to withstand these kind of events. Whether you’re in TX or CA.

That's just not entirely true. DMV summers are notoriously brutal, even by Texas standards. 90+ degree brutally humid summer days with a heat index over 100 are the norm not the exception around here. We pay extra for an electrical system that has guaranteed backup supply and whose components are weatherized. Texas chose not to and is paying the proverbial piper.

No. DMV summers are not brutal but Texas standards. Not even close. You’re losing track of scale here. Average July temp/heat index in DC is 89/100.8. Average in Dallas 95.2/113.5. And that’s just Dallas. Heat index in Houston, San Antonio and Austin are all worse in July. And the DMV power grid is not built to withstand sustained Texas temps from both a demand and operating perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

El Paso is operating fine because they spent the last decade winterizing equipment to -10F. It cost a lot of money, but it paid off.

They are also separate from the ERCOT and share power with Mexico and New Mexico, but that didn't seem to play a big role. What mattered was the resiliency of their physical equipment.

https://kvia.com/news/el-paso/2021/02/15/el-pasos-not-seeing-power-outages-like-the-rest-of-texas-and-heres-why/

El Paso and its system is not currently experiencing a 4 standard deviation event. The comparison is off base. An earthquake or hurricane *could* hit Minnesota next week, but body has insurance for it up there and they certainly aren’t built to withstand it. Obviously this is a slight exaggeration to what Is happening in Texas, but you get the point.

They're part of the Western Grid instead of the Texas Grid. Isn't it strange how the areas of Texas that have redundancy through the national grid systems are still working?

Not really. Montreal to DC is about the same distance as El Paso to San Antonio. Montreal is about 150 miles closer to DC than El Paso is to Houston. El Paso to Dallas is about the same distance as DC to Bangor, Maine. El Paso has a different set of rules because it is basically a different part of the country that is experiencing different conditions and operating parameters. The SPP has also experienced rolling blackouts and even if the population regions in Texas were interconnected they’d probably still be having rolling blackouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

And power outages happen all over blue states with heat waves that would be called overnight lows in the Texas summer. Going into the 90s in July of 2019 had DMV officials worried about blackouts while most Texans would be grateful for 90s temps in July and their systems would perform just fine at that demand/operating environment. California had rolling blackouts last year over what Texas could handle as a relatively average summer. Some of this is policy choices and some of it is that nobody builds systems to withstand these kind of events. Whether you’re in TX or CA.

That's just not entirely true. DMV summers are notoriously brutal, even by Texas standards. 90+ degree brutally humid summer days with a heat index over 100 are the norm not the exception around here. We pay extra for an electrical system that has guaranteed backup supply and whose components are weatherized. Texas chose not to and is paying the proverbial piper.

No. DMV summers are not brutal but Texas standards. Not even close. You’re losing track of scale here. Average July temp/heat index in DC is 89/100.8. Average in Dallas 95.2/113.5. And that’s just Dallas. Heat index in Houston, San Antonio and Austin are all worse in July. And the DMV power grid is not built to withstand sustained Texas temps from both a demand and operating perspective.

Ive been in both and I prefer the dry heat. The point is that our systems are built to handle everything from 100+ to -0 because you cant assume that wont happen. We pay to have backup supply in case of an emergency. We pay for weatherization. We dont do this because we want to. We do this because if something happens we dont want a grid failure. Texas on the other hand chooses not to prepare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

El Paso is operating fine because they spent the last decade winterizing equipment to -10F. It cost a lot of money, but it paid off.

They are also separate from the ERCOT and share power with Mexico and New Mexico, but that didn't seem to play a big role. What mattered was the resiliency of their physical equipment.

https://kvia.com/news/el-paso/2021/02/15/el-pasos-not-seeing-power-outages-like-the-rest-of-texas-and-heres-why/

El Paso and its system is not currently experiencing a 4 standard deviation event. The comparison is off base. An earthquake or hurricane *could* hit Minnesota next week, but body has insurance for it up there and they certainly aren’t built to withstand it. Obviously this is a slight exaggeration to what Is happening in Texas, but you get the point.

They're part of the Western Grid instead of the Texas Grid. Isn't it strange how the areas of Texas that have redundancy through the national grid systems are still working?

Not really. Montreal to DC is about the same distance as El Paso to San Antonio. Montreal is about 150 miles closer to DC than El Paso is to Houston. El Paso to Dallas is about the same distance as DC to Bangor, Maine. El Paso has a different set of rules because it is basically a different part of the country that is experiencing different conditions and operating parameters. The SPP has also experienced rolling blackouts and even if the population regions in Texas were interconnected they’d probably still be having rolling blackouts.

Are you the PP that pointed out how close El Paso is to San Diego as well? That’s irrelevant. What’s relevant is that it weatherized its systems and it’s connected to the Western Grid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

El Paso is operating fine because they spent the last decade winterizing equipment to -10F. It cost a lot of money, but it paid off.

They are also separate from the ERCOT and share power with Mexico and New Mexico, but that didn't seem to play a big role. What mattered was the resiliency of their physical equipment.

https://kvia.com/news/el-paso/2021/02/15/el-pasos-not-seeing-power-outages-like-the-rest-of-texas-and-heres-why/

El Paso and its system is not currently experiencing a 4 standard deviation event. The comparison is off base. An earthquake or hurricane *could* hit Minnesota next week, but body has insurance for it up there and they certainly aren’t built to withstand it. Obviously this is a slight exaggeration to what Is happening in Texas, but you get the point.

They're part of the Western Grid instead of the Texas Grid. Isn't it strange how the areas of Texas that have redundancy through the national grid systems are still working?

Not really. Montreal to DC is about the same distance as El Paso to San Antonio. Montreal is about 150 miles closer to DC than El Paso is to Houston. El Paso to Dallas is about the same distance as DC to Bangor, Maine. El Paso has a different set of rules because it is basically a different part of the country that is experiencing different conditions and operating parameters. The SPP has also experienced rolling blackouts and even if the population regions in Texas were interconnected they’d probably still be having rolling blackouts.

Are you the PP that pointed out how close El Paso is to San Diego as well? That’s irrelevant. What’s relevant is that it weatherized its systems and it’s connected to the Western Grid.

+100

It's almost like there's two conversations going on here. One talking about the reasons for the failure in most of Texas while some other parts of Texas are fine and the other conversation about distances. I'm sorry but just because El Paso is far away from San Antonio (FYI I drove that distance - it took 12hrs, I'm well aware of the distance) doesn't negate the reasons for weatherization and being connected to other grids. Texas could be connected to both the Western and Eastern grids if they wanted redundancy. They chose to separate them selves so they wouldn't have "interstate commerce" and couldn't be regulated by the Federal government. It was literally a choice that they made. They could change that going forward and in fact, they should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

El Paso is operating fine because they spent the last decade winterizing equipment to -10F. It cost a lot of money, but it paid off.

They are also separate from the ERCOT and share power with Mexico and New Mexico, but that didn't seem to play a big role. What mattered was the resiliency of their physical equipment.

https://kvia.com/news/el-paso/2021/02/15/el-pasos-not-seeing-power-outages-like-the-rest-of-texas-and-heres-why/

El Paso and its system is not currently experiencing a 4 standard deviation event. The comparison is off base. An earthquake or hurricane *could* hit Minnesota next week, but body has insurance for it up there and they certainly aren’t built to withstand it. Obviously this is a slight exaggeration to what Is happening in Texas, but you get the point.

They're part of the Western Grid instead of the Texas Grid. Isn't it strange how the areas of Texas that have redundancy through the national grid systems are still working?

Not really. Montreal to DC is about the same distance as El Paso to San Antonio. Montreal is about 150 miles closer to DC than El Paso is to Houston. El Paso to Dallas is about the same distance as DC to Bangor, Maine. El Paso has a different set of rules because it is basically a different part of the country that is experiencing different conditions and operating parameters. The SPP has also experienced rolling blackouts and even if the population regions in Texas were interconnected they’d probably still be having rolling blackouts.

Are you the PP that pointed out how close El Paso is to San Diego as well? That’s irrelevant. What’s relevant is that it weatherized its systems and it’s connected to the Western Grid.

+100

It's almost like there's two conversations going on here. One talking about the reasons for the failure in most of Texas while some other parts of Texas are fine and the other conversation about distances. I'm sorry but just because El Paso is far away from San Antonio (FYI I drove that distance - it took 12hrs, I'm well aware of the distance) doesn't negate the reasons for weatherization and being connected to other grids. Texas could be connected to both the Western and Eastern grids if they wanted redundancy. They chose to separate them selves so they wouldn't have "interstate commerce" and couldn't be regulated by the Federal government. It was literally a choice that they made. They could change that going forward and in fact, they should.

Texas wants to be separate and acts like they want to succeed from the union. Citizens keep on electing politicians t
Who make these inane decisions, and then wonder what is going on when they don't have power or water.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Man the right wing fossil fuel sphere got out there with their message fast.
Democrats and progressives are always playing catch up.
Always trying to unring a bell.

It’s almost like that was the state government’s priority instead of telling citizens how to stay safe.

This happened ten years ago, FERC wrote a report with a ton of recommendations, mostly “winterize your power distribution capability, FFS,” and Texas did nothing. You might recall this because Dallas in particular was a total icy mess the whole week before hosting the Super Bowl for the first time. Here’s the report; of course Texas was not required to follow the recommendations because its power grid is not regulated by the federal government. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

My husband worked on that report. Last night he kept telling me that TX knew.

Of course they knew. They actively chose this scenario. They prefferred cheaper short term electricity over long term reliability amd resiliency.

So basically the GOP builds infrastructure like China builds buildings. Does anyone remember that school that collapsed in China that was practically built with paper clips in place of rebar and sawdust in the cement? This is that. An avoidable tragedy in support of the party’s ideals.

Prelim data suggests this was a 4 standard deviation event. Not many systems in the world built to withstand those types of events.

It happened ten years ago and the lack of winterization was specifically pointed to as the cause by both federal and state investigators. This was forseen and the problems known ahead of time.

And power outages happen all over blue states with heat waves that would be called overnight lows in the Texas summer. Going into the 90s in July of 2019 had DMV officials worried about blackouts while most Texans would be grateful for 90s temps in July and their systems would perform just fine at that demand/operating environment. California had rolling blackouts last year over what Texas could handle as a relatively average summer. Some of this is policy choices and some of it is that nobody builds systems to withstand these kind of events. Whether you’re in TX or CA.

That's just not entirely true. DMV summers are notoriously brutal, even by Texas standards. 90+ degree brutally humid summer days with a heat index over 100 are the norm not the exception around here. We pay extra for an electrical system that has guaranteed backup supply and whose components are weatherized. Texas chose not to and is paying the proverbial piper.

No. DMV summers are not brutal but Texas standards. Not even close. You’re losing track of scale here. Average July temp/heat index in DC is 89/100.8. Average in Dallas 95.2/113.5. And that’s just Dallas. Heat index in Houston, San Antonio and Austin are all worse in July. And the DMV power grid is not built to withstand sustained Texas temps from both a demand and operating perspective.

Ive been in both and I prefer the dry heat. The point is that our systems are built to handle everything from 100+ to -0 because you cant assume that wont happen. We pay to have backup supply in case of an emergency. We pay for weatherization. We dont do this because we want to. We do this because if something happens we dont want a grid failure. Texas on the other hand chooses not to prepare.

No. Systems aren’t built “for anything” that can happen. They are built for ranges that cover 99% of what could happen. When the 1% hits, systems fail. That’s true everywhere in the country. And right now Texas is having the 1% event.

I don’t have time to look for DMV’s ISO right now, but most other ISOs manage to around a one day in 10 year standard (industry standard). So when you get hit with a one day in 50 year event (especially on a multi day period) like Texas is experiencing right now you can expect system failure. You should not expect that your power system will operate under a comparable 4 standard deviation event that hits the DMV.