The Texas power grid failed because it wasn’t winterized. Recommendations to do so were made following the winter storms of 2017 but none was enacted. Worse was the deliberate decision by the Republican-dominated state legislature to virtually eliminate interstate power transmission in order to skirt federal regulation. Winterizing and hardening the grid costs money. So Texans suffered because profit came before ensuring the ability of the grid to keep citizens warm and safe.
Republicans have long demonized regulation and claimed the private sector was always better than the public. But without the framework of at least some regulation and oversight, businesses cannot be relied upon to put people first. Remember the Cuyahoga River catching fire in 1969 because a business was dumping chemicals in it? Regulations exist to keep businesses honest and responsible. Our power infrastructure is too important to be unregulated.
Letter to the editor:
Texas legislators chose this failure
Fri, Feb 26, 2021 (2 a.m.)