The Dallas Morning News watchdog writer Dave
Lieber’s Jan. 27, 2022 column is an important read for all Texans. The
column relies on facts and fact-checking, citing the work of Ed Hirs, an energy
scholar at the University of Houston. Hirs’ Jan. 21 white paper is a 17-page, meticulously
sourced and documented condemnation of the Texas Energy grid, the Electric
Reliability Council of Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott and his right-wing, radical
henchmen. “A
Decade of Deliberate Inaction: Root Causes and Fallout from the Deadly Texas
Power Failure of 2021” puts Hirs’ findings against Abbott’s rhetoric, the
presentations at some town halls by ERCOT CEO and president Brad Jones and statements
by state Sen. Kelly Hancock, a Republican from North Richmond Hills. Basically,
Abbott, Jones and Hancock are liars — flat out liars.
Here’s the bottom-line on all this: The Texas stand-alone
grid is an abject failure of the promises of a competitive market to benefit
consumers with lower prices; and, at times a deadly failure in the delivery of services
In fact, Hirs proves the competitive model has done the exactly the opposite of
those promises. It is neither delivering lower prices to consumers nor is it
reliable at times of electrical stress on the grid. If you don’t believe that,
go back to last year’s deadly freeze that stole the lives of at least 240
Texans and possibly as many as 700 innocent people. (Talk about right to life.)
In fact, the failure of the grid has long been known and here’s the key paragraph
in Hirs’ paper:
“Generators failed during the winter storm in February 2021
with many of ‘the freeze-related outages occurring at temperatures above the
unit’s stated ambient design temperature.’ Stripping away everything else, the
system operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, failed
because generator companies did not invest in weatherization practices after a
similar failure in 2011. For eight of the 10 years prior to 2021, the average
wholesale price of electricity in ERCOT was too low for generator companies to
earn returns on capital. Consequently, they had every incentive not to invest
in weatherization. The ERCOT market rewarded volatility at the expense of
reliability, despite a decade of warning.”
Like many Americans and fellow Texans, I wonder how conservatives
— especially the “Christian” conservatives — reconcile their tenets of faith
with their politics and actions. I am not only talking about the protect-the-rich
and screw-the-poor politics, although that’s certainly bad enough; but I am also
talking about something far more basic. I am talking about their lack character.
Over and over, the teachings of churches, religions and catechisms
mandate the true believer be honest; be a truth-teller and not knowingly lie. And
yet, Abbott, and indeed the Republican Party, continue to lie and deceive the
public by word and deed. And, a point that applies more specifically to Greg
Abbott. Lawyers are held to a higher standard of honesty and conduct. That’s according
to the Texas Bar Association’s Code of Ethics, which buries that in Rule 4.01.
But a rule it is.
So, when Abbott is on the hustings, all that talk about
books, the border and the reliability of the electrical grid are pretty much
lies. Of course, we have a way to understand the lies and the entire “competitive”
or “market model.” But to do so, one has to be familiar with the work of James
McGill Buchanan and his public choice theory. I’ve discussed it before when I’ve
written about “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's
Stealth Plan for America,” by Award winning Duke University historian Nancy
MacLean.
Texans deserve better. The State Bar deserves someone on its
rolls better than Greg Abbott. I doubt it will happen, but at least I know what’s
going on. I pray the long arc of history will bring justice and accountability
will prevail.
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