@tedcruz Texas failed to winterize its generation sources the last time this happened in 2011.

Now ask yourself, why?

Simple. Texas's extended power outage is a result of negligent GOP infrastructure policy.

THREAD.

@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz The Texas GOP has continuously rebuffed plans to invest in better infrastructure to upgrade TX power grids.

Texas was warned to weatherize power plants.

Why didn’t they?
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz TX power companies said electricity prices are too low to provide incentives (profit) to build new plants or improve older ones. (a result of privatization of basic services.)
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz The electrical grid in Texas was deregulated, privatized, and removed from interconnected networks to avoid federal regulation and increase profits for a small number of wealthy individuals.

Go figure.
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz If TX ERCOT grid was on the national grid, or simply reinvested in their privatized infrastructure, they'd be fine by now.

They did neither, b/c it wasn't profitable.

It's a failure of TX leadership –– total, inexcusable, and utterly catastrophic.

Not fucking windmills.
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz https://t.co/IOLZPymRu1
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz https://t.co/A0HOfw993I
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz With millions of Texans still without power amid frigid temperatures, false claims that wind and solar energy were primarily to blame spread across social media.

But gas, coal and nuclear plants caused nearly twice as many outages as wind and solar.

https://t.co/TRWr9x5N3q
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz No. Frozen wind turbines aren’t the main culprit for Texas’ power outages. Wind power accounts for an est. 17.5% of the electricity generated in Texas.

Texas is a natural gas state.

https://t.co/kh38epoWZ0
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz And @ERCOT_ISO has confirmed that most of the generating loss has come from (largely deregulated) gas and nuclear facilities.

Rather than taking ownership for *any* of this crisis,
@GregAbbott_TX is lying about its cause—to try to score cheap (and inaccurate) political points.
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz @ERCOT_ISO @GregAbbott_TX Meanwhile, the parts of Texas not on its privatized ERCOT power grid (El Paso) appear to have weathered the freeze with few outages.

https://t.co/xBSqxI193K
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz @ERCOT_ISO @GregAbbott_TX https://t.co/amMBDCM4XM
@ProjectLincoln @tedcruz @ERCOT_ISO @GregAbbott_TX https://t.co/K0DUHDYndU

More from Government

The Government is making the same mistakes as it did in the first wave. Except with knowledge.

A thread.


The Government's strategy at the beginning of the pandemic was to 'cocoon' the vulnerable (e.g. those in care homes). This was a 'herd immunity' strategy. This interview is from


This strategy failed. It is impossible to 'cocoon' the vulnerable, as Covid is passed from younger people to older, more vulnerable people.

We can see this playing out through heatmaps. e.g. these heatmaps from the second


The Government then decided to change its strategy to 'preventing a second wave that overwhelms the NHS'. This was announced on 8 June in Parliament.

This is not the same as 'preventing a second wave'.

https://t.co/DPWiJbCKRm


The Academy of Medical Scientists published a report on 14 July 'Preparing for a Challenging Winter' commissioned by the Chief Scientific Adviser that set out what needed to be done in order to prevent a catastrophe over the winter

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