Your campaign brief for February 20, 2021

John-

Dan Crenshaw here.

Texas is on the road to recovery after a devastating week of blackouts and freezing temperatures. As we enter the recovery phase, I want to use this week's campaign brief to share helpful tips for Texans to spot and report scams and price gouging, and explain the truth about why our electric grid failed when we needed it the most.

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Now, here’s your campaign brief.
HOW DID THE POWER GO OUT IN TEXAS?
HERE ARE THE FACTS.

With blackouts across Texas, many are wondering: what happened?

Leftists are cheering a “red state” having energy problems.

Here’s the truth about what happened.

Summary:

A mix of over-subsidized wind energy and under-investment in gas power means we didn’t have enough base load energy for a massive spike in demand.

Also, Texas infrastructure isn’t designed for once-in-a-century freezes.

#1 - Frozen Wind Turbines:

West Texas had wind turbines that had to be de-iced. The little energy that power regulators planned on being supplied from wind was now gone.

We have almost 31GW of wind installed on the grid, but on Monday we couldn’t even depend on 6 GW working.

To make matters worse, existing storage of wind energy in batteries was also gone, because batteries were losing 60% of their energy in the cold.

Bottom line: renewables don’t work well in extreme weather. Never will.

This is what happens when you force the grid to rely in part on wind as a power source. When weather conditions get bad as they did this week, intermittent renewable energy like wind
isn’t there when you need it ([link removed]) .

#2 - Nuclear also got too cold:

We only have 4 nuclear units in TX, near Houston and Dallas. One of the reactors near Houston turned off due to a safety sensor freezing. There was no problem with the reactor. But the lack of the sensor forced the plant to shutdown, as a precaution.

(On another note, this shows how safe nuclear is. Lots of safety precautions.)

#3 - We don’t have enough Natural Gas online:

ERCOT planned on 67GW from natural gas/coal, but could only get 43GW of it online.

We didn’t run out of natural gas, but we lost the ability to get it transported. Pipelines in Texas don’t use cold insulation – so they froze.

Every natural gas plant stayed online. The “downed” plants were due to scheduled maintenance.

Gov. Abbott made the right call in diverting all natural gas to home heating fuel and then electricity for homes. Gas and coal brought a stable supply of energy, but still not enough.

Why didn’t we have extra gas power when we need it most?

Because years of federal subsidies for wind has caused an over reliance on wind and an under-investment in new gas and nuclear plants.

Bottom line: fossil fuels are the only thing that saved us. They are *base load* energy.

If we were even *more* reliant on the wind turbines that froze, the outages would have been much worse.

This raises the obvious question: can we ever rely on renewables to power the grid during extreme weather?

No, you need gas or nuclear.

And subsidizing investment in wind has pushed gas and nuclear out.

Now we live with the consequences.

The push to decommission base load power sources like natural gas would be disastrous when trying to keep the lights on in Texas.

I’ll be joining my Texas colleagues in getting to the bottom of what happened.

We can do better, even for once in a century events.
INFORMATION ON SCAMS AND PRICE GOUGING

[link removed]

As power continues to come back on and pipes start getting fixed, don't get scammed.

Here are some basics:

Plumbing Scammer Signs:
• A contractor asks you to sign anything before you’ve hired them;
• Requires payment in full before starting the job; or,
• Contractor doesn’t have insurance

Additional Information on scams:

Greater Houston Builders Association (GHBA) Don’t Get Scammed -
[link removed]

ReadyHarris Facebook Page - [link removed]

If you see price gouging, it is illegal under Texas law. Document it and report it.

Here is some information and resources from the Texas Attorney General Office:
[link removed]

If you see price gouging, you can also contact the Harris County Attorney’s office by texting, calling, or going online:
•Email: [email protected]
•Text: (346) 354-7459
•Online form at Harris County Attorney's office: [link removed]

ON SOCIAL MEDIA

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RECOMMENDED READS

TODAY: How to help those affected by the winter storm and power crisis in Texas ([link removed])

FORBES: This blizzard exposes the perils of attempting to 'electrify everything' ([link removed])

Thanks for your support.
In service,
Dan Crenshaw
DAN CRENSHAW FOR CONGRESS

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