As Texas prepares for the upcoming winter storm on Thursday, Gov. Abbott held a press conference with various state agencies involved in the preparation for the storm.
A reporter questioned the governor on the possibility of a load shed event, a term for when controlled blackouts are used to keep the power grid from failing.
“No one can guarantee that there won’t be a load shed event,” said Abbott.
However, in a November interview with Austin’s local Fox News 7, Abbott did make that guarantee.
“I can guarantee that the lights will stay on,” Gov. Abbott said .
Now, despite championing legislation passed in the 87th Legislative Session that purported to account for the grid failures back in February 2021, Abbott won’t stand by that original guarantee.
Some Texans have already received warnings from their power companies that outages may accompany the upcoming storm. In fact, one warning says the grid’s capability is contingent on wind production, which has been the center of criticism over the past year.
Because the problem is lack of fossil fuel generation to take over when ice shuts down green energy. All Texas has done is build wind farms. Stupid does not cover it.
— Mark Angle (@MarkAng38855922) February 1, 2022
In a gubernatorial candidate forum held in October—that Abbott declined to attend—-challengers Allen West, Don Huffines, and Chad Prather discussed their unease about the current reliance on wind power.
“For whatever reason, we have dedicated 23 to almost 26 percent of our energy distribution to an unreliable energy source, which is wind and solar. And all you have to do is, as they say in politics, you follow the money. As a matter of fact, one of the things you have to be very concerned about is that there was an energy company here in the state of Texas that made $2.3 billion while you were freezing, while an 11-year old died in his bed in Conroe, Texas. And that exact same energy company wrote Greg Abbott a $1 million campaign contribution check. That tells you something,” said West.
“We have to stop subsidizing these green energy plants and these green energy companies and let them stand on their own two feet. When they fail, they fail. We’re not going to bail them out,” said Prather.
Besides the state providing subsidies for these questionable green energy projects, Huffines also noted that they are an “ecological disaster” for the environment and property values.
Earlier today, Huffines tweeted:
Greg Abbott boldly said he did everything that was needed to keep the lights on this winter.
Now he’s saying if they go out it’s not his fault.
This isn’t leadership.
Texans deserve better from their governor.
— Don Huffines (@DonHuffines) February 1, 2022
Meanwhile, others have taken to Twitter to express their frustration with what they see as double-speak from Gov. Abbott.
Abbott: "No one can guarantee that there won't be a quote 'load shed' event."
He has previously offered such a guarantee.
— Matt Largey (@mattlargey) February 1, 2022
