Texas winter storm / power outages
I’m seeing a lot of chatter online (Reddit) about power outages in Texas. The two extremes both annoy me. These are:
1) Posts from the Left: they just hate Texas on general principles, wish most Texnas would die, and how this is their own fault for ‘not weather-proofing their energy infrastructure’.
2) Posts from the Right: this is all due to wind turbines freezing, is proof that renewable energy policies are to blame, etc.
I will say that there is at least some justification for point #2 — turbines did actually freeze. However, apparently there are more issues than that contributing to the power outage.
As a resident of the Southeast, I can tell you that in climates where severe winter storms are a statistical rarity, local governments are not prepared for these conditions. Why? Because they almost NEVER happen, that’s why! No one would agree to double their normal tax rate to buy, say, 500 additional snow plows and mothball them for 30–50 years at a time until they might be needed. Yeah, I’m sure Texas pipelines weren’t built for -10 degrees F — because that only happens every, what, 100 years? And it surely sucks when it does happen and you aren’t prepared. But not being prepared in that scenario doesn’t make you stupid. Paying for 99 years to be prepared for year 100 WOULD make you stupid.
The last time the area where I now live had anything like a severe snow/ice storm (a la Texas now) was…1973. Some places were without power for 3–5 days, per what I’ve read (not universally, though). Should residents have radically changed their lifestyle and spent vast sums to guard against that? There has been nothing like it now for 48 years. There have been occasional snowstorms, some of which caused massive 1-day traffic issues. The response was to spend a bit more on sand, salt, and the infrastructure to apply it. That is an expense, but not a ridiculous one. My point is that there is a (wide) ‘happy medium’ between spending all your reserves to guard against a very rare event versus not being prepared in any way.
The chatter is really tiresome to read, which is why I’m not going to continue reading it.
