Texas mayor says government and utility services owe residents ‘nothing’ as tens of thousands left without power and water

[Torn Mind]

Utilities are treated pretty lightly by local governments. This guy just basically revealed the attitude in the most asshole way possible. The flavoring is merely bitter rather than sweet. Government advisories are basically ink on paper but they ain't subsidizing the water and food you buy because of emergency warnings at the grocery store.

Government does not care until after a disaster strikes. Car accident, abnormal scale of disruption.

MD is a Democratic state and their policy prior to the derecho contributed to the outages that caused enormous outage problems afterwards.

Also, some places that are connected to the federal grid also are having rolling blackouts like in Kansas City.

 

[shortylickens]

Fucking windmills in fucking texas dont provide that much fucking power. Like 12 fucking percent.
The god damn power plants of all god damn types are god damn failing thanks to a complete lack of god damn cold weather preparation.
And the shitty transmission lines all over the shitty state are freezing and falling over thanks to shitty planning and shitty maintenance and shitty winterization.

STOP BEING STUPID! IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THEN SHUT THE HELL UP!

 

[K1052]

My understanding is that wind turbines can effectively "freeze up" in cold temperatures when the lubricants in the blade hub assemblies become too viscous. In regions expecting cold temperatures, this can be mitigated with better insulation and heaters. Of course, this costs extra and therefore not something normally requested for wind turbines being sited in warmer climates. And perhaps the extra cost was hard to justify for a cold weather event that might take the wind turbines out of service for a week every twenty years. This kind of thinking is probably also behind decisions that left other fossil-fueled generating resources unprepared to operate in such cold conditions. It isn't the nature of the generation (i.e. wind or fossil-fueled) that is at the root of the problem. It is the decision to not invest enough in hardening more of the generation against cold weather that seems to be the culprit.

That, and their longstanding reluctance to build interconnecting transmission lines with other states due to their distaste for federal regulations.

A similar but less severe event happened in 2011. The grid operators and politicians know ERCOT is very vulnerable to cold but have elected to ignore it to maximize profit and maintain low prices. Of course Texas population has increased about 5 million people since then and it seems the scenarios the grid operator relied on utilize outdated assumptions.

There was a proposal a number of years back for a 15GW mega link to the Western Interconnection but the state decided it wasn't needed or wanted. Perhaps time to give that a look again...

 

[cytg111]

Ted Cruz : Fuck this shit I am out of here

https://news.yahoo.com/ted-cruz-spotted-boarding-flight-140152146.html

Meanwhile

https://twitter.com/betoorourke

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362280019863564291

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362407989131415554

 

[HomerJS]

There are working windmills in Antarctica, Fucking Antarctica. What could one conclude from the fact that windmills work just fine in Antarctica? Would it cause someone to think that they just might work if the temperature is below freezing or it snows?


Oh jeeze, I hope he knows where Antarctica is.

I heard a guy on radio today that works in that industry. Texas likely bought the wrong models that would have been cheaper.

Every 10 years or so they get hit with this weather so they already knew it was a possibility. Small gubmit baby!

 

[Jaskalas]

Oh and for some reason the EB article needed a cover photo of AOC and Stacey Abrams because that relates to grid winterization somehow. I guess minority Democrats are going to invade Texas to shove frozen wind turbines up the asses of every God Fearing 'Merican Freedom fighter there

Because those who post such propaganda want to rile up extremists until they physically attack Democrats. Their pictures are up to serve as a target on their backs.

 

[Vic]

For some weird reason people seem to naturally side with businesses over people. I guess it’s our culture of lowered expectations. Somehow protecting people has become a form of socialism. I guess words no longer have a set meaning.

I wasn't talking about protecting people, I was talking about businesses fulfilling their contractual obligations to their paying customers, which is one of the very foundations of capitalism. It's one thing to side with business, but if customers should have no expectations of businesses delivering on the products they pay for, then why would they pay for those products in the first place?
Fuck words having no meaning, this idiot mayor is a perfect example of how stupid and just plain bad for business these Trump era "conservatives" have become.

 

[Vic]

Because those who post such propaganda want to rile up extremists until they physically attack Democrats. Their pictures are up to serve as a target on their backs.

Yep. And we already saw this on Jan 6.

 

[MtnMan]

My understanding is that wind turbines can effectively "freeze up" in cold temperatures when the lubricants in the blade hub assemblies become too viscous. In regions expecting cold temperatures, this can be mitigated with better insulation and heaters. Of course, this costs extra and therefore not something normally requested for wind turbines being sited in warmer climates. And perhaps the extra cost was hard to justify for a cold weather event that might take the wind turbines out of service for a week every twenty years. This kind of thinking is probably also behind decisions that left other fossil-fueled generating resources unprepared to operate in such cold conditions. It isn't the nature of the generation (i.e. wind or fossil-fueled) that is at the root of the problem. It is the decision to not invest enough in hardening more of the generation against cold weather that seems to be the culprit.

That, and their longstanding reluctance to build interconnecting transmission lines with other states due to their distaste for federal regulations.

That like saying that people that live in Texas don't need to have antifreeze in their pick-m-up trucks radiator.

 

[shortylickens]

That like saying that people that live in Texas don't need to have antifreeze in their pick-m-up trucks radiator.

No, it isnt.
Anti-freeze and coolant are the same liquid in the same place. And you need it year round.
Cuz thats smart.

Whats not smart is failing to winterize your critical services. Even Miami gets cold once in a blue moon. When it happens the orange farmers lose billions.
Its not worth the risk.

 

[Fenixgoon]

No, it isnt.
Anti-freeze and coolant are the same liquid in the same place. And you need it year round.
Cuz thats smart.

Whats not smart is failing to winterize your critical services. Even Miami gets cold once in a blue moon. When it happens the orange farmers lose billions.
Its not worth the risk.

But having the right mixture of antifreeze given your location IS important.

Antifreeze that works for TX summers could very well freeze in WI winters, and antifreeze that works in WI winters could very well overheat in TX summers.

Edit: struck out scientifically incorrect item. I forgot how science works *facepalm*

 

[MtnMan]

No, it isnt.
Anti-freeze and coolant are the same liquid in the same place. And you need it year round.
Cuz thats smart.

Whats not smart is failing to winterize your critical services. Even Miami gets cold once in a blue moon. When it happens the orange farmers lose billions.
Its not worth the risk.

But water would work just fine, no fucking need to "winterize" That's how they designed their power system.

Hell the cold even shut down a fucking nuclear reactor. What epic level of incompetence have they achieved that nuclear reactors shut down because it is below freezing.

 

[ivwshane]

I wasn't talking about protecting people, I was talking about businesses fulfilling their contractual obligations to their paying customers, which is one of the very foundations of capitalism. It's one thing to side with business, but if customers should have no expectations of businesses delivering on the products they pay for, then why would they pay for those products in the first place?
Fuck words having no meaning, this idiot mayor is a perfect example of how stupid and just plain bad for business these Trump era "conservatives" have become.

I wasn’t disagreeing with you, I was adding to your post. When businesses fail to meet their obligation they are usually sued or the government steps in, I see neither happening right now.

 

[Muse]

he has resigned

Texas Mayor Announces Resignation After Unhinged Facebook Rant About Power Outages Goes Viral

Tim Boyd, the mayor of Colorado City, Texas, announced his resignation on Tuesday following a viral Facebook post where he whined about residents who wanted help during the extreme weather that has caused widespread power outages and dangerously cold conditions for millions of people throughout...

gizmodo.com

Guy's a nut. Listened to too much Rush.

 

[thilanliyan]

It's very simple, Texas wind farms are not winterised. Despite being told at least twice by feds they should winterise their power generation infrastructure.

Government telling someone what to do? That's communism!!!

 

[Jhhnn]

But having the right mixture of antifreeze given your location IS important.

Antifreeze that works for TX summers could very well freeze in WI winters, and antifreeze that works in WI winters could very well overheat in TX summers.

A 50/50 mix covers everything from Death Valley to -40 frozen tundra. It's a design specification, factory standard. Antifreeze doesn't just stop freezing. It also raises the boiling point. You can get by with less antifreeze in a mild climate but you have to add corrosion inhibitor to maintain the cooling system long term.

 

[shortylickens]

But water would work just fine, no fucking need to "winterize" That's how they designed their power system.

Hell the cold even shut down a fucking nuclear reactor. What epic level of incompetence have they achieved that nuclear reactors shut down because it is below freezing.

Oh they are so incompetent and self serving its ridiculous. And I bet not many Texans wake up and see it. Fox News has been blaming the Democrats for everything wrong.

 

[Jhhnn]

But water would work just fine, no fucking need to "winterize" That's how they designed their power system.

Hell the cold even shut down a fucking nuclear reactor. What epic level of incompetence have they achieved that nuclear reactors shut down because it is below freezing.

Reactors generally have open cooling systems. Fresh water comes in, gets heated up & is discharged back into the river or lake it came from. If the intake freezes up, you're screwed. There are obviously ways to counter that but weren't considered necessary.

 

[Fenixgoon]

A 50/50 mix covers everything from Death Valley to -40 frozen tundra. It's a design specification, factory standard. Antifreeze doesn't just stop freezing. It also raises the boiling point. You can get by with less antifreeze in a mild climate but you have to add corrosion inhibitor to maintain the cooling system long term.

Forgot it works both ways 🤣

 

[dawp]

But water would work just fine, no fucking need to "winterize" That's how they designed their power system.

Hell the cold even shut down a fucking nuclear reactor. What epic level of incompetence have they achieved that nuclear reactors shut down because it is below freezing.

this is texas, who elected rick perry for governor repeatedly, do you really need to ask?

 

[kage69]

The issue of Texas and it's latent civil war butthurt helping create stupid ERCOT aside, I just heard the two guys running that show don't even live in Texas! One's in Michigan and the other in Cali. Wtf.

Beto O'Rourke (not in office) seems to be more concerned about Texans than Ted Cruz (in office), yet my surprise comes from seeing Ted Cruz correctly wearing a mask. So this is 2021.

Hey brown Texans who voted red in 2018 and 2020, you going to wise up or ask for more? Republican governance is mostly toxic, skews sharply depending on wealth and melanin involved. If this isn't a sign to re-evaluate your views and priorities, I don't know what is.

 

[Pohemi]

The issue of Texas and it's latent civil war butthurt helping create stupid ERCOT aside, I just heard the two guys running that show don't even live in Texas! One's in Michigan and the other in Cali. Wtf.

Yeah the president or head of the board council is in Michigan. Supposedly the vice head is a professor in Germany.

 

[hal2kilo]

So does that mean the customers don't owe anything to the utility? Referencing the OP.

 

[m8d]

When is Texas going to secede?

 

[hal2kilo]

When is Texas going to secede?

Why not? Seceding from the national power grid worked out so well for them. The the rest of the school systems won't be stuck with their sanitized history books either.