No, the Green New Deal Is Not Why Texas Lost Power
But that won’t stop Republicans from using it against the Biden administration
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Texas is experiencing extreme record-breaking weather this week. The winter storm that is wreaking havoc across the nation has left millions in Texas without power on Tuesday. With record low temperatures, the state’s electric grid is not able to keep up.
Scientists have long been warning us of extreme weather due to climate change, and while many factors contribute to one weather event, we are now seeing the effects that climate change will bring us.
The Green New Deal takes the blame
But rather than focusing on why so much of the U.S. is experiencing record temperatures and severe storms, some, mainly Republicans, are now blaming the Green New Deal on the Texas power outages.
The claim: Texas power outages are entirely due to frozen wind turbines.
One headline declared, “A Green New Disaster Unfolding in Texas as “Green Energy” in Complete Failure, Millions Without Power.”
The Green New Deal has been trending on Twitter with many blaming the freezing of wind turbines for the problems in Texas.
Rep Lauren Boebert tweeted the following, “The Green New Deal was just proven unsustainable as renewables are clearly unreliable.”
Fox News boldly declared on air that, “Frozen Wind Turbines Cause Blackouts in Texas.”
Debunking this myth
There are so many reasons why we can’t place 100% of the blame on wind power. For example:
The Green New Deal does not exist yet. Most importantly of all, the Green New Deal is a proposal. For it to become a reality, it would have to be passed by both branches of Congress. Then it would take years to build the infrastructure.
Sweeping policy changes like the Green New Deal don’t just magically appear overnight with a new president.
Biden’s plan isn’t the Green New Deal. President Biden does want to increase clean energy, and his administration uses the Green New Deal as a framework for his plan. But it’s not the same plan. There are differences.
And again, at this stage, it’s merely a proposal. Climate change legislation has not been passed at this time.
Texas mainly gets its power from traditional sources. There are times in the summer when wind power is up to 60% in Texas. But, only 25% of Texas power is generated from wind turbines in the winter.
What is causing the power outages?
If we can’t place all the blame on renewable energy, what can we blame?
Wind turbines have a small role to play. Yes, it’s true, some turbines have shut down due to ice, and wind generation is down this week compared to last.
However, the majority of power plants that closed overnight were traditional plants fueled by coal, natural gas, and nuclear power.
Add to that the extreme cold creating more demand for power and you can see it’s a combination of factors with frozen wind turbines playing a small role. The real issue is the increased energy demand from the cold and the shutting down of traditional power plant facilities due to cold and icy conditions.
Gov. Greg Abbott said, “Many power generation companies’ facilities froze overnight and shut down their ability to generate power…This includes the natural gas and coal generators.”
The current power system failed
This is why we need to upgrade our infrastructure. It’s the power grid in place today that is failing. We don’t have enough power to meet the demands of extreme winter weather in parts of the nation that are not accustomed to frigid temperatures.
The wild weather we are seeing is not a one-off freak event. Weather like this is going to become more and more commonplace. We need to upgrade our power system now to be able to handle the new normal.
Things freeze with extreme temperatures. Not just wind turbines, but natural gas, nuclear, and coal plants as well. Train lines freeze too and they have to be de-iced. It’s what happens when temperatures dip below zero. Everything freezes.
Also, the demand for power increases. And all of this combined creates power outages and the need for rolling blackouts.
Blaming everything on a climate proposal that doesn’t exist yet is another example of Republican fear-mongering and lies. When you’re constantly in fear of the other side, you don’t always stop to fact-check or take an in-depth look at reality.
They want you afraid. They want you so afraid that you vote for them without thinking too hard about what you’re voting for. And they’re more than happy to use the latest disaster to blame the other side.
