Power grid… no because ultimately it’s ideally self correcting. My only concern here is with Abbott who was a self-serving liar who tried to spin it as a partisan foible with that “it was wind!” fiction. One can’t assume it will self correct if the people in charge wear blinders.
Pipeline… mixed. Part of me says ‘yes’ because of the repeated missteps. The other suggests that this also can be fixed with laws that impose jail sentences for those who mismanage critical infrastructure. Fines never do the trick. Threaten executives with jail sentences and the culture changes quickly… for pipelines and a whole lot of other things.
I am well aware and don’t disagree that they are self serving idiots. If that’s the case you are trying to make, well, you’re singing to the choir. But, that wasn’t your question. Your question was about federal regulation. To that I would say that market forces probably still provide the best long term remediation. If Texas has expensive and unreliable power, businesses will relocate and take people with them. Also, never forget the Enron fiasco with the west coast grid, nor the blackout that took out much of the northeast and Midwest for days in the early 2000s. The interstate grids don’t exactly have the best track record.Agree completely but add argument for your consideration that the politicians and Texas Power Grid operators conspired to protect
the grid from federal oversight and regulation by literally "walling it off" from adjacent states to avoid interstate status justifying federal "participation", resulting in no in or out "power sharing" with nearby, interstate grids.
Is avoidance of federal "best practices" somehow in the public interest?
How can it be argued that this scheme was in the public interest when a consequence was inability to bring in additional power to
relieve hot or cold weather demand driven stress on the grid or to reciprocate in participation in the interstate grid? They seem to have been motivated mostly by extreme political views and short and longterm profit considerations. Reporting supports that consumers saw no benefit of lower rates resulting from this unusual scheme, AKA conspiracy.
Texas winter storm blackouts report from 2011 went unenforced
https://www.usatoday.com › news › nation › 2021/02/18
Feb 18, 2021 — Winter storm blackouts plagued Texas in 2011, too. Recommendations made afterward went unenforced. ... 'An electrical island':Texas has dodged federal regulation for years by having its own power grid. Had the ...
Why does Texas have its own power grid? | The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org › 2011/02/08 › texplainer...
Feb 8, 2011 — Basically, Texas has its own grid to avoid dealing with — you ... years — not even counting Mexico's help during blackouts in 2011. ... In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power ...
"...According to a 2014 report[2] by the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power (TCAP), "deregulation cost Texans about $22 billion from 2002 to 2012. And residents in the deregulated market pay prices that are considerably higher than those who live in parts of the state that are still regulated. For example, TCAP found that the average consumer living in one of the areas that opted out of deregulation, such as Austin and San Antonio, paid $288 less in 2012 than consumers in the deregulated areas.".."
Definition of socialism1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods2a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private propertyb : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state 3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work doneDefinition of SOCIALISM
any of various egalitarian economic and political theories or movements advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods; a system of society or group living in which there is no private property… See the full definitionwww.merriam-webster.com
Sure...why not? What can possibly go wrong?
All of your points are well taken. I am reacting to the "spillover" of what happened in Texas not staying in Texas. When petroleum extraction and refining was interrupted for two reasons, the grid failure and no investment in weather protection or back up power to even preserve "little things" like powering extraction pumps at the petroleum wells or pipeline pumping stations, refined products nationwide rose 50 cents per gallon almost immediately and there were some supply interruptions. There was some impact on the fragile economic recovery. This is how it directly became a federal concern.I am well aware and don’t disagree that they are self serving idiots. If that’s the case you are trying to make, well, you’re singing to the choir. But, that wasn’t your question. Your question was about federal regulation. To that I would say that market forces probably still provide the best long term remediation. If Texas has expensive and unreliable power, businesses will relocate and take people with them. Also, never forget the Enron fiasco with the west coast grid, nor the blackout that took out much of the northeast and Midwest for days in the early 2000s. The interstate grids don’t exactly have the best track record.
Longer term, photovoltaic deployments are growing quickly in Texas and projected over the next decade or two I would imagine Texas to be one of the leading states with local PV, which will put a dent in grid reliance.
That’s a fair point. From a economic and national security perspective, it’s important for America to make sure Texas’s production capacity does not get tanked by preventable mistakes made by short sighted idiots.All of your points are well taken. I am reacting to the "spillover" of what happened in Texas not staying in Texas. When petroleum extraction and refining was interrupted for two reasons, the grid failure and no investment in weather protection or back up power to even preserve "little things" like powering extraction pumps at the petroleum wells or pipeline pumping stations, refined products nationwide rose 50 cents per gallon almost immediately and there were some supply interruptions. There was some impact on the fragile economic recovery. This is how it directly became a federal concern.
Not true. The model works fine so long as there is an operational cost to not having that redundancy. Take a look at the most capitalistic institutions in history (exchanges and brokerages) and you will find the most highly available, redundant infrastructure ever built by mankind, bar none. More redundant than any power grid, plane or space craft you could imagine, because when a system transacts billions per second, you do whatever it takes to keep it up.We need redundancy in the power grid and fuel delivery pipelines. We don't need to put all our eggs in one basket.
The problem with that for a capitalistic model is that redundancy cost money. If it is not being run at peak efficiency its not creating maximum profits.
Same way with maintenance. It cost money to keep equipment in top shape. Where exactly is the minimum amount of maintenance that we can get by with.
Just one of the problems with the capitalistic model.
Yes, the government tends to be more risk adverse and have higher ‘reliability’ requirements for a given system it develops. Often we found the specifications were routinely changed for the system so that ultimately the requirements and spec document would change to meet the test result. The government is horrible at Project ManagementWe need redundancy in the power grid and fuel delivery pipelines. We don't need to put all our eggs in one basket.
The problem with that for a capitalistic model is that redundancy cost money. If it is not being run at peak efficiency its not creating maximum profits.
Same way with maintenance. It cost money to keep equipment in top shape. Where exactly is the minimum amount of maintenance that we can get by with.
Just one of the problems with the capitalistic model.
Industry incapable of or unwilling to police itself as respects what may impact national security should be overseen by the fed govt. This would apply to the energy industry and social media currently given special treatment under Section 230. These areas have proven to be highly vulnerable to outside intervention that has highly negative impact on our democratic society. This would be a function that supports industry to assure a secure environment in which business to is able to make profit in our capitalist democracy.
What is the alternative to incompetent crony capitalist ownership of "one of a kind" too big to fail enterprises avoidably interrupting the entire U.S. energy distribution and supply in just one three month period in 2021, both the Texas power grid and Colonial Pipeline owners and operators decisions resulting in deaths, horrendous environmental impact and severe economic impact, just in the first half of 2021, alone. Both enterprises have long history of repeated catastrophe.
April, 2021, in reaction to a million gallon plus gasoline "leak" first discovered last summer in North Carolina.:
Feds Warn Colonial Pipeline Is At Risk; Company Says Leak Is Deeper Than Reported
New mapping shows gasoline contamination from a spill on the Colonial Pipeline north of Charlotte last summer goes deeper into the soil than previously reported. That news comes as federal officials warn that similar leaks could happen elsewhere along the 5,500-mile pipeline from Texas to New...www.wfae.org
In 2016 in Alabama :
(list of other links to Alabama reporting:
https://www.al.com/topic/colonial pipeline spill/ )
After spills and explosion, Colonial Pipeline CEO retiring
CEO Tim Felt said in a news release Thursday that it was his decision to step down from the Alpharetta, Georgia company at the end of January.
1564 days ago
By The Associated Press
Alabama pipeline explosion sent up 'geyser' of burning gasoline, 'like Old Faithful with fire'
First responder at Alabama gasoline pipeline explosion describes chaotic scene.
1651 days ago
By Dennis Pillion | dpillion@al.com
The model for this proposal is the successful TVA, created as a result of 1933 Depression Era legislation, criticized and attacked by
libertarians and capitalists ever since. Can they do a better job? History indicates, no.
...There was nothing wrong with how to Texas grid was managed. There was a largely unprecedented weather event. The grid authority in Texas previously decided not to Spend money insulating their infrastructure on the idea they weren’t likely to see such an event and it would be money spent for nothing which rate payers and utilities would have to cover....
I find it very telling that I made a detailed argument, and you have not actually address the argument. Because you do not have an intelligent reply. Your entire criticism of Texas is Texas bad. You cannot create a coherent argument for what the Texas authorities did wrong with the energy grid that could not also be applied to a lot of Democrats and federal government programs. Or even regular consumers.I'm hoping even you don't really believe this quoted portion of your post.
You gave me, what... 30 seconds? I was searching for my earlier post supporting everything you quoted that I said. I always support my posts.I find it very telling that I made a detailed argument, and you have not actually address the argument. Because you do not have an intelligent reply. Your entire criticism of Texas is Texas bad. You cannot create a coherent argument for what the Texas authorities did wrong with the energy grid that could not also be applied to a lot of Democrats and federal government programs. Or even regular consumers.
Hmm. Why is it necessarily unbelievable? Yes they are building a not so great track record of having a major outage once every decade but as I explained in an earlier post this is not necessarily much worse than the track record of the other two North American grids. The only data driven figure of merit we should be focusing on is whether they are enjoying lower cost energy than adjacent states in exchange for taking some risks.I'm hoping even you don't really believe this quoted portion of your post.
Hmm. Why is it necessarily unbelievable? Yes they are building a not so great track record of having a major outage once every decade but as I explained in an earlier post this is not necessarily much worse than the track record of the other two North American grids. The only data driven figure of merit we should be focusing on is whether they are enjoying lower cost energy than adjacent states in exchange for taking some risks.
don’t get me wrong, this does not excuse their board being comprised of out-of-staters nor human scum like Cancun Cruz losing their spine (again) during state crisis. There is some rotten leadership for sure. However I am not convinced generation and distribution in Texas is fundamentally worse than the rest of the US. I personally want to see a bit more of the TX open access energy market applied to the rest of the US. Ironically there is near unanimous consensus in the renewables community that open access features of the TX grid need to be transplanted to the coastal grids.
None of this refutes anything I said nor is it an argument for a federal takeover of the Texas grid.You gave me, what... 30 seconds? I was searching for my earlier post supporting everything you quoted that I said. I always support my posts.
As possibly 10 million Texans sit in cold & dark, majority vote result quality of gov or life superior to California gov or life?
-snip- ... Instead the state seems to be focused on decentralizing the grid as much as possible, by mandating rooftop solar on all new construction (effective Jan 2020) and heavily incentivizing local energy storage--even though in the long term this will push the utilities only further into the...debatepolitics.com
From my post of several months ago, linked directly above.:
https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/08-16-11-report.pdf
Report on outages and curtailments during the Southwest cold ...www.ferc.gov › legal › staff-reports › 08-16-11-report
Aug 2, 2011 — FERC/NERC Staff Report on the 2011 Southwest Cold Weather Event ... (ERCOT), which covers most of Texas, experienced either an outage, ...
Federal Regulators Plan to Investigate Massive Texas Power ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/f...tigate-massive-texas-power-outage/ar-BB1dM5Id
FERC is the same agency that examined the last major winter power outage in Texas in 2011, and then offered recommendations aimed at preventing a repeat in the future.
Photos: Remembering the coldest winters in Houston history
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-...emembering-the-coldest-winters-in-6859026.php
3 of 44 4 of 44 A shopper copes with Friday's big chill at Greenspoint Mall on Dec. 23, 1989. The weather kept the crowds at home in the morning, but the afternoon brought last-minute buyers to ...
The December 1989 Cold Wave - National Weather Service
https://www.weather.gov/ilx/dec1989-cold
December of 1989 featured several surges of Arctic air into the central and eastern United States beginning around mid month and lasting until Christmas. This Arctic outbreak was a historic event, with many locations establishing monthly or all-time record lows.
So you’re bringing up isolated events that average less then once per decade, and which never previously caused widespread power outages. Ok you’re only proving my point. The grid was more then adequate for reasonably foreseen weather conditions.Continued from last post...
The weather stats and dates of extreme (for Texas) cold periods supports that the defense of the grid operators and enabling politicians matches what one would expect from late February, 1978 through November, 1983, and not reasonable now, or even in March, 2011.
January-February 1951
Coldest temperature: 14° on 2/2
Nights at or below freezing: 6 in a row
..The switch flipped on January 28, when temperatures dropped 40, and then January 29 when they kept dropping to 24 degrees. We then had four straight days below freezing all day long. The January 29-February 3 period remains Houston’s coldest stretch of 6 days on record, averaging 26.3 degrees.
January 1940
Coldest temperature: 10° on 1/19
Nights at or below freezing: 11 in a row
.. Only twice has Houston seen 11 straight days of low temperatures at or below freezing: January 1983 and January 1940. The 1940 cold is notable for both intensity and duration.
January 1930
Coldest temperature: 5° on 1/18
Nights at or below freezing: 8, coming in two 4-day waves .."
January 18, 1930 is Houston’s coldest morning on record, with a low of 5 degrees above zero. The cold came in two punches, this first strong one, followed by a second one a couple days later in which we bottomed out at 15 degrees on the 22nd.
Why? So you can pay more for a bunch of left wingers and political cronies to get high government salaries and pensions?As critical as power infrastructure is to our well-being as a nation it amazes me that it's in private hands at all. The power grid should be nationalized, or at least much more heavily regulated than it currently is.
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