Anonymous wrote:Now Gov. Abbot wants to retrofit the infrastructure with winterization.

I don't think he understands how expensive or almost infeasible that is or will be.

How will they pay for it?

1. More taxes
2. Money from federal government

Also, I hear he wants more regulation in pricing, and those who got those huge bills won't have to pay for all of it.

All of this sounds so... oh.. what's the word.... liberal.

Now Gov. Abbot wants to retrofit the infrastructure with winterization.

I don't think he understands how expensive or almost infeasible that is or will be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

You don’t spend that kind of money on a one in 100 year event. Money is finite and you have to pick and choose where it goes.

You do when these are the repercussions.

The modern GOP, ladies and gentlemen: penny wise and pound foolish. At least they owned all those libs.

+1

+2 We build levee systems to handle one in 100 year events. Northern states find the money to do this. It does not require infinite money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

You don’t spend that kind of money on a one in 100 year event. Money is finite and you have to pick and choose where it goes.

You do if the cost of the 100 year event becomes catastrophic.

There's a book, The Flaw of Averages, which discusses this with some real world examples of catastrophic failures.

Anonymous wrote:Hundreds more per household per year.

Deregulation only works if markets are kept competitive vs. monopolistic, meaning they have to be regulated to promote competition, i.e. large mergers and acquisitions not allowed and a stranglehold on generation or transmission not allowed. Huge, investor owned utilities just like huge “too big too fail” banks are always a disaster waiting to happen. Unfortunately, they own the PACs and they politicians, so hard to stop. The gov. looks at how they can bail out these behemoths or how to keep their capital levels regulated vs. simply not allowing a single entity to get that big in the first place. It is a simple solution, but one that will never happen due to human nature (greed).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

You don’t spend that kind of money on a one in 100 year event. Money is finite and you have to pick and choose where it goes.

You do when these are the repercussions.

The modern GOP, ladies and gentlemen: penny wise and pound foolish. At least they owned all those libs.

+1

Hundreds more per household per year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

You don’t spend that kind of money on a one in 100 year event. Money is finite and you have to pick and choose where it goes.

You do when these are the repercussions.

The modern GOP, ladies and gentlemen: penny wise and pound foolish. At least they owned all those libs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

You don’t spend that kind of money on a one in 100 year event. Money is finite and you have to pick and choose where it goes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

Yup. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

I don’t think ERCOT had the authority to write regulations. After the 2011 incident the legislature has to pass a law just to mandate generators to write a plan and no mechanism to enforce that it be a good plan, or to force the plan to be implemented.

Oh they definitely aren’t subject to regulation by FERC, but they definitely received their recommendations, and did nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

Yup. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

I don’t think ERCOT had the authority to write regulations. After the 2011 incident the legislature has to pass a law just to mandate generators to write a plan and no mechanism to enforce that it be a good plan, or to force the plan to be implemented.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

Yup. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

Minor question - but maybe they need to require the board and at least the Chair/Vice Chair be Texas residents as well. The latter two were living in Michigan and California.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.

Yup. https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OK they fell on their swords. But the legislature is responsible for creating a system that failed. The free market was supposed to provide resilience, and it did not. ERCOT, for their many flaws, did not have the power to mandate winterization. They accurately reported that "a majority" (not most, not all) producers followed their voluntary cold weather plans. The failure is the market more than the administrators.

but but but this was CRUZ and ABBOTT!!!!

Yes, low regulation Cruz and Abbott created an atmosphere that lead to this.

Yet the board resigned. They didn’t have to.

Five board members didn’t live in Texas and the legislature has already been saying they want to pass a law that says board members need to live there.

Also, the board spent less than a minute discussing storm preparedness. Oops.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/19/winter-storm-texas-ercot-officials-spent-40-seconds-preparedness-meeting/4507805001/

Yes, but (a) Texas appoints the people to ERCOT, and (b) no warning could have changed the outcome. You can't winterize wellheads and turbines in the snap of a finger.

They've known this needed to be done for more than 10 years.