Winter Storms, Summer Heat, and our 3rd World Electric System

Magicians call this misdirection.

From Wikipedia - In theatrical magic, misdirection is a form of deception in which the performer draws audience attention to one thing to distract it from another.

Sadly, this is what this administration thinks is leadership. This also shows you what they think of the American public. Ignorant peasants.

Most administrations use misdirection to their advantage, but this is a new low. Close pipelines and dip into the strategic reserve.

Misdirection (magic) - Wikipedia
 
I'm generally in favor of pipelines... but ones that lead to extraction of oil from Canadian Tar Sands are legitimately controversial. The environmental havoc the extracting and refining that nasty stuff make me nostalgic for lignite coal power plants.
 
Crockett said:
I'm generally in favor of pipelines... but ones that lead to extraction of oil from Canadian Tar Sands are legitimately controversial. The environmental havoc the extracting and refining that nasty stuff make me nostalgic for lignite coal power plants.
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Oil sands.
 
iatrogenic said:
How do you feel about the economic havoc of moving away from hydrocarbons?
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The government will take care of that problem so long as well let the left run it with no real limits on their power. They can't solve the problem of bums taking a dump on the streets of San Francisco, but they can solve the economic havoc of moving away from hydrocarbons.
 
Mr. Deez said:
The government will take care of that problem so long as well let the left run it with no real limits on their power. They can't solve the problem of bums taking a dump on the streets of San Francisco, but they can solve the economic havoc of moving away from hydrocarbons.
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So there is no way to protect the interest of common folk...just let the energy companies write the rules so they can have extraordinary profits next cold snap while citizens randomly chill in the dark?
 
Crockett said:
So there is no way to protect the interest of common folk...just let the energy companies write the rules so they can have extraordinary profits next cold snap while citizens randomly chill in the dark?
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No. There is balance. If you want an example of how it can be done well, look to the example Rep. Steve Wolens (D-Dallas) set when electric deregulation was first passed. The energy companies had a lot of say, but it wasn't unchecked. His work was a big reason why Texas didn't have huge supply and blackout problems like California did. However, we don't have many Democrats as sensible as he was.
 
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utahorn said:
This is one area where Abbot / Patrick are vulnerable. What have they done to fix this issue in Texas? I voted for them but could not imagine Beto (Beta) doing better.
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What I find appalling is that Abbott was around for the investigation into ERCOT in the early aughts which produced prison time for a number of contractual irregularities. I still believe the same sorts of irregularities existed and played a role last February. Yet any talks of investigations seem to have died when so many of the muckety-mucks at ERCOT resigned.

Those were the people who authorized virtual inspections of the equipment because of the sniffles. Common sense should have told them that hands-on inspections were a necessity.

Every single one of those contracts should have been reviewed by the end of March to determine just HOW much of the problem was cronyism in the awards...

That said, anyone who has problems even if the weather were to repeat didn't learn a lesson. There has been plenty of time for people to insulate pipes, acquire firewood or generators, and to get a small camp-stove if they don't have gas cooking capacity. And no, I don't mean big-assed Generac units, but just a basic unit that will run a few important things.
 
There are Many people up here still trying to get their house repaired after burst pipes.
A friend has had contractors in the house since 3rd week in March.
Typical problems including insurance etc. Now the wood flooring they ordered in April is MAYBE on a ship waiting to be unloaded in Ca.
The thought of going through this again staggers the mind ( staggers is 100 times worse than boggles)
 
Horn6721 said:
There are Many people up here still trying to get their house repaired after burst pipes.
A friend has had contractors in the house since 3rd week in March.
Typical problems including insurance etc. Now the wood flooring they ordered in April is MAYBE on a ship waiting to be unloaded in Ca.
The thought of going through this again staggers the mind ( staggers is 100 times worse than boggles)
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I'm guessing they have at least learned where their water shut off valve is located. It amazed me how few people didn't even know how to turn off the water to their homes.

I also hope people have taken notice of which insurance companies promptly paid out...some were very good. Cheaper companies were...often NOT good.
 
mb,

Part of the problem in the Houston SMSA is finding a reliable contractor that is available. My daughter got her repairs pretty quickly because we have the best plumber in town as a family friend. Drywall, insulation, & paint, not so much. The paint contractor just finished the week before Thanksgiving.
 
Actually even with the main water valve turned off the pipes can still burst and cause flooding when you turn the water back on.
 
Horn6721 said:
Actually even with the main water valve turned off the pipes can still burst and cause flooding when you turn the water back on.
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Just turning the main valve off isn't all that need be done. If you run the water through a few faucets afterwards, you will have cleared the lines enough to mitigate frozen pipe likelihood...especially if you have taken the cheap and easy step of putting a decent grade of insulation about the attic pipes.

So many simple steps that so few people bother to take...
 
Mr. Deez said:
No. There is balance. If you want an example of how it can be done well, look to the example Rep. Steve Wolens (D-Dallas) set when electric deregulation was first passed. The energy companies had a lot of say, but it wasn't unchecked. His work was a big reason why Texas didn't have huge supply and blackout problems like California did. However, we don't have many Democrats as sensible as he was.
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Yeah really. Where are the guys like him and Mark White these days...?
 
I don't want to accept rolling blackouts as the "new normal." How about improving the reliability the electric supply and grid instead? And if it costs more, it costs more. It seems that some folks are ok with having Third World problems. I hope for something better in these United States, including Texas. Something about an archaic electric grid + rolling blackouts on the one hand, and one of the World's top high tech industry center* on the other hand doesn't match.

WHERE'S THE LEADERSHIP?!?!?! Out to lunch for another year...

Maybe Elon Musk will crack the whip on them, now that he's a Texan.


*to be fair California's Silicon Valley has electric problems of their own. Who knows, Bangalore may also.
 
Crockett said:
So there is no way to protect the interest of common folk...just let the energy companies write the rules so they can have extraordinary profits next cold snap while citizens randomly chill in the dark?
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You are right. Let the government solve the problems the government created. That always works.
 
Chop said:
Yeah, pretty much...

It seems that the wild eyed lunatics (from each side) dominate the primaries.
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Yep. Wolens (who was no conservative) was replaced by Rafael Anchia. It's possible to do worse, but he's far more of a partisan.
 
Texas electric grid still not ready for extreme winter weather -NERC

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

“People should probably be worried”: Texas hasn’t done enough to prevent another winter blackout, experts say

Texas power grid could be woefully unprepared for coming winter - Marketplace

Texas SB3 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature

“We are not ready for this winter,” said Doug Lewin, who runs Stoic Energy, a consultancy based in Austin. He said the natural gas companies that produce nearly half of the power that fuels the state’s electricity grid can sidestep the law.

"The only mandate for gas companies for this winter, meanwhile, is to register their facilities with utilities as critical infrastructure to protect against, but not necessarily eliminate, the risk of power cuts when the grid is stressed. But even then, there’s a special loophole that allows operators to pay $150 to opt-out of even that registration process."

One of the co-sponsors of this brilliant piece of legislation...

 
I can't defend this sort of crap anymore. The next time I hear it from a Northern friend or acquaintance, I'll just say: "Yep, we're pretty stupid down here all right..."
 
And I'm big-time pro oil and gas--especially gas.

You don't want me on the Railroad Commission, I'd issue permits to just about any proposed well, and give the E&P side of the business nearly a free reign to do whatever they want.

But requiring winterization of the gas infrastructure...Yeah, that's something that needs to be done--for obvious reasons.
 
Not sure if the winterization problem is going to be better or not. Hard to tell with MSM articles who look for any way to take a shot at Texas. We had a once in a lifetime winter event last year and they're trying to make it look like that's the way it's going to be every winter. However, there's no doubt we need to keep improving because we're beginning to outgrow our infrastructure.
 
Chop said:
I don't want to accept rolling blackouts as the "new normal." How about improving the reliability the electric supply and grid instead? And if it costs more, it costs more. It seems that some folks are ok with having Third World problems. I hope for something better in these United States, including Texas. Something about an archaic electric grid + rolling blackouts on the one hand, and one of the World's top high tech industry center* on the other hand doesn't match.
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You wouldn't pay anymore if the plan was just to build more coal, gas, and nuclear. The cost and reliability problems all come from incentivizing new construction of solar and wind.
 
Monahorns said:
You wouldn't pay anymore if the plan was just to build more coal, gas, and nuclear. The cost and reliability problems all come from incentivizing new construction of solar and wind.
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Not just the incentivizing but ALSO the fact that once constructed, the left wants the others taken offline.

If wind and solar could survive and thrive on their own, we would have seen far more people taking up the offers to install it...but most are smart enough to realize that it doesn't do the job by itself.
 
We had a once in a lifetime winter event last year and they're trying to make it look like that's the way it's going to be every winter.
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It wasn't much different from 1989 and 2011. Which means that roughly once a decade we're going to risk catastrophe if nothing changes.
 
Yeah really. Sort of like the 2-3 or so “500 year” floods Houston has endured over roughly the last 10 years…
 
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