A Tale of Two Climates: Texas Politics During the Deep Freeze

“Unpredictable” might be an appropriate word to describe this winter season. In the Northern states, the frequent snowstorms stop only long enough for beachgoers to get a mild tan. Meanwhile, some Southerners are questioning for the first time, what is this white stuff that is falling from the sky? One state in particular, Texas, bore the brunt of an unusual and nasty deep freeze last week that has caused politicians and pundits to examine the sociopolitical conditions that left millions of residents without power.

What went wrong in Texas?

The Texas power grid is a stand-alone system operated in a deregulated market. Independent power companies are free to compete with each other and Texans can take their pick of providers. This has the effect of driving prices down through competition, but it also means companies need to cut costs where they can to remain profitable. The grid itself is maintained by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”), which is an important name to know when navigating this news cycle.

Under normal circumstances, this system could be seen as an exemplar of free-market economics. It is a cheap network tailored only to the needs of the communities it serves. It is free from big-government regulation, and it is popular in an energy-producing state that prides itself on a long history of independence. Since Texas seldom receives winter events of this magnitude, most of its power companies failed to invest in winter-proofing their pipes and wires. It was a gamble, but until now ERCOT has been able to shift energy production to different parts of the state during weather emergencies.

A man walks to his friend's home in a neighborhood without electricity in Pflugerville, Texas, Feb. 15, 2021. (Bronte Wittpenn | Austin American-Statesman | USA Today Network | Reuters)

On this occasion, however, the entire state was hit, and Texas’ independence became its tomb. When the temperatures dropped, many pipes froze or burst, conditions made the roads impassable for repair crews, and ERCOT had nowhere to shift energy production. At the same time, demand for heat and electricity skyrocketed, putting an unprecedented load on the already crippled infrastructure.

Power in Texas has largely been restored, at a price. Power companies were forced to import some resources from out-of-state, and they have passed the bills onto customers. Some Texans are now seeing electricity bills in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Reflections on the Political Climate

Tragic as the winter crisis in Texas is, it is an interesting window into the political storm that is also surging in the United States. Where there is suffering, there are political figures who seek to capitalize on it to advance their message, even if that message does not quite line up with the circumstances. 

In a Feb. 16 interview on Hannity, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) decried the wind and solar industries in favor of natural gas, coal and nuclear energy. “This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America,” he said.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) echoed this sentiment in a tweet thread, also from Feb. 16. “How does the energy capital of the United States run out of power?” he asked. He then went on to explain, “#1 - Frozen Wind Turbines.” The second part of this tweet discussed nuclear power, and the third part involved gas and coal. But despite giving time to all sources of energy, Crenshaw’s thought pattern remained clear from the beginning of his thread to his summation at the end: “Thank God for baseload energy made up of fossil fuels … This raises serious concerns about the reliability of renewable-reliant power grids during extreme weather.”

Democrats have responded to the Texas storm by questioning the competency of their political opponents and the policies on which they won their election. On Feb. 19, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) tweeted, “We need the federal investigation by @FERC & @NERC_official to look into how Gov. Abbott’s policies in Texas have failed & exacerbated the winter storm crisis.” He was tweeting at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, respectively, which are oversight institutions with relevant authority here.

“As with Covid,” former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) wasted no time tweeting, “a natural disaster has become far deadlier due to the inaction and ineptitude of Abbott and Texas’ Republican leadership.”

What Does This Show?

The reactions to the Texas winter crisis are equal and opposite, with each side using the catastrophe as an example of the failures of their opponents’ policies, even when those policies are only tangentially related. The right targeted the Green New Deal, a non-binding congressional resolution to promote clean energy production, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts). The resolution was never approved, so Abbott and Crenshaw argued against nothing. But the Green New Deal still exists as a progressive goal and a conservative boogeyman, and it is especially convenient to whip out when your political contributors in the oil and gas industry might suffer.

On the left, the question can be raised what Democrats are calling to investigate. Although ERCOT might have made poor snap decisions in this unprecedented situation, the conditions that left Texans unprepared for this storm have been continuously validated by, well, Texans. The independent Texas power grid is generally popular when conditions are good. Competition keeps prices low and the state’s abundance of resources ensures there are many options available to residents. But during this weather aberration, the system appears in desperate need of a safety net, the type of which broader regulation supposedly promises. Small-government conservatives might contend that Schumer and O’Rourke are not arguing in favor of the will of Texans, but instead against the will of the free market. There is a subtle tone of condescension in the voices of Democrats, who seek to subvert the will of the people so Washington can act as nanny-state.

Despite what either side might have you believe, there is likely no clear solution to the energy crisis in Texas. The independent power grid, run by ERCOT, provides cheap energy to residents and has been upheld since its inception by both parties despite multiple efforts to bring it under federal regulation. However, by its very nature, this system discourages winterizing equipment due to the exorbitant expense that would be passed on to customers. The result is that people are suffering. Work is being done by (most) officials in both parties to help those in need, which cannot be undersold, but no amount of humanitarian aid will own the libs or flag Republican Twitter feeds. No amount of aid will bring the dead back to life.