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acroyearRight Wing Misaims Blame on Blackouts : Dispatches from the Culture Wars:
One thing easily forgotten about Texas from 10,000 (political) feet: that damn state is BIG. To support power to Austin from Louisiana would require crossing the equiv of the entire width of Louisiana all over again - you're talking electricity that thus is passing almost 500 miles. So really, on a more integrated grid you're able to power Houston from Louisiana and not much else, and Amarillo and Lubuck from New Mexico, leaving Dallas, Ft Worth, Austin, and San Antonio still trying to scrape power from 500 to 1000 miles away if Arkansas and Oklahoma are in the same deep freeze situation and themselves borrowing power from more nuke-supported states.
Never mind that the Obama administration hasn't actually done anything on this issue at all. There have been no significant legislative or regulatory changes made that would have impacted this issue at all since Obama took office. But the right makes it sound as though cap and trade had already been passed when, in reality, it's been put on a shelf and ignored.I'm not entirely sure every state could spare the power. The same deep freeze was also hitting Arkansas (also a mostly coal driven state), Oklahoma and Louisiana (though the latter could pass-through power from Mississippi and Alabama who stayed a little warmer), though New Mexico likely had plenty to spare.
Now here's the reality of the situation:1. The blackouts occurred due to cold-weather causing traditional power plants to go offline, starting with two of Texas' largest coal power plants. Water intakes froze, requiring the plants to shut down. Natural gas lines faced risks due to moisture in pipelines, leading them to shut off. Some 50 fossil-fuel plants went down representing 7 gigawatts of production capacity and taking about 14 percent of planned power production off line.That last part is very important. If the Texas grid was more integrated into the national grid, the blackouts never would have happened. Production would have been ramped up at out of state power plants and the electricity sent to Texas automatically. The blame here lies with Texas, not with the Obama administration or environmentalists.
2. Wind power production has met (and, it seems, actually exceed) its commitments to the Texas power grid -- wind-power has been producing its promised electricity service, unlike coal and natural gas systems. Wind maintained delivery of 3.5 to 4.0 gigawatts (about 7 percent of Texas' requirements) to the grid.
3. In line with Governor Perry's dreams of secession, Texas' electrical grid remains the most independent of the regional grids in the United States from the overall electrical system. Other states' power production couldn't feed in to compensate for Texas' inability to meet its own requirements and help keep Texans warm and out of the dark.
One thing easily forgotten about Texas from 10,000 (political) feet: that damn state is BIG. To support power to Austin from Louisiana would require crossing the equiv of the entire width of Louisiana all over again - you're talking electricity that thus is passing almost 500 miles. So really, on a more integrated grid you're able to power Houston from Louisiana and not much else, and Amarillo and Lubuck from New Mexico, leaving Dallas, Ft Worth, Austin, and San Antonio still trying to scrape power from 500 to 1000 miles away if Arkansas and Oklahoma are in the same deep freeze situation and themselves borrowing power from more nuke-supported states.
