Tag Archives: Freeze 2021

The real way to make a fortune in cryptocurrency

Get paid millions to not use electricity. It’s brilliant. When the news broke that Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms made $32 million by reducing — or being willing to reduce if needed — its energy use last August in Texas, … Continue reading

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What the Texas State Aquarium will be doing this winter

Rescuing freezing animals, for one thing. The patient, rescued by a concerned stranger, had been in the hospital for almost a year since suffering in the cold around last Christmas. She had been eating well and gaining weight after her … Continue reading

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SCOTx declines to revive oligarch nuisance lawsuit against Beto

Good. The Texas Supreme Court said Friday it would not consider Republican megadonor Kelcy Warren’s defamation lawsuit against former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke after a state appeals court dismissed it earlier this year. The all-GOP court denied Warren’s petition … Continue reading

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SCOTx rules ERCOT can’t be sued over the 2021 freeze

A split ruling, which in my kind could have gone either way. The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that ERCOT, the operator of Texas’ power grid, is a government entity, granting the organization immunity to lawsuits stemming from 2021′s deadly … Continue reading

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Oligarch nuisance lawsuit against Beto finally tossed

Sure took long enough. A state appeals court dismissed Republican megadonor Kelcy Warren’s defamation lawsuit against Beto O’Rourke, ruling Friday that statements by the 2022 Democratic nominee for governor were protected by the First Amendment. The Austin-based 3rd Court of … Continue reading

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Watch out for your electric bill

Noting this for the record. As Texans continue paying off the costs of the deadly 2021 winter storm, state lawmakers are considering a Republican-backed proposal that would allow for more frequent rate hikes and prevent cities from challenging the increases. Supporters of Senate … Continue reading

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Last chance to file Winter Storm Uri lawsuits

The two year anniversary of the big freeze of 2021 is upon us, and the statute of limitations for civil actions in this sort of thing is two years, so you know what that means. When Cherrilyn Nedd left her … Continue reading

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Winter storm 2023

I don’t know if this one will get a name, but I can imagine what a lot of folks are calling it. Thousands of frustrated Texans shivered in their homes Thursday after more than a day without power, including many … Continue reading

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More on the PUC’s attempt to fix the grid

From TPR: After the last big blackout, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 3, telling the commission to improve grid reliability. So, commissioners have been working on changing the state’s electricity market. They want to reform how energy is bought and … Continue reading

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PUC makes an attempt to fix the grid

People are skeptical. The Public Utility Commission voted Thursday to make a substantial change to the state’s electricity market in a controversial effort to get the whole system to be more reliable. The agency said it will let the Legislature … Continue reading

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Nobody knows the state of the gas supply in Texas

That can be a problem during freezes. You know, like the one we had over Christmas. As questions continue to swirl about widespread outages Atmos Energy customers experienced in North Texas and beyond last week, the opacity of Texas’ sprawling … Continue reading

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SCOTx to decide if ERCOT can be sued

Big decision to come. Lawyers argued before the Texas Supreme Court on Monday over whether the state’s power grid operator should be protected from lawsuits, a question that has become especially important after the deadly February 2021 freeze. Individuals and insurance companies have … Continue reading

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The bats survived another freeze

A bit of good news. On the fourth day of Christmas, Houston got 600 bats back. As the sun set on Waugh Bridge over Buffalo Bayou Wednesday, the Houston Humane Society released hundreds of Mexican free-tailed bats that had been in the … Continue reading

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ERCOT makes it through, with an assist from the feds

In case you were wondering. A day after ERCOT asked the U.S. Department of Energy for an emergency order allowing its generators to bypass emissions standards to stave off potential outages, Texas’ electric grid met demand with ease on Saturday. … Continue reading

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The Christmas Bird Count

If you’re looking for a little holiday project… For the 123rd year in a row, the Christmas Bird Count is happening all over the country. Bird enthusiasts and nature lovers head outside, take a census of birds in their area … Continue reading

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No, really, are we emotionally prepared for this freeze?

Ready or not, here it comes. State officials warned residents Wednesday to prepare their homes and vehicles for the coming freeze while trying to reassure on-edge Texans that the electric grid will stay online. Temperatures are expected to plummet Thursday … Continue reading

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Are we emotionally prepared for the oncoming freeze?

That’s the real question at this point. ERCOT on Friday notified power generators in Texas that they need to be online and ready to provide power during an expected wave of cold air that could drop overnight temperatures into the … Continue reading

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More battery power coming

Now here is something that might actually help the grid. A surge of new battery projects is expected to come online on Texas and California’s power grids, as developers seek to store the excess electricity produced by those state’s sprawling wind and solar … Continue reading

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Beto tries again to get ridiculous defamation lawsuit dismissed

Hope he has better luck here. The gubernatorial election is over, but Kelcy Warren’s defamation lawsuit against Beto O’Rourke lives on. Warren, the Dallas pipeline tycoon, sued O’Rourke in February over accusations he made on the campaign trail that Warren … Continue reading

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Do we actually know how to fix the grid?

The evidence is unclear. Texas lawmakers and experts who study the state’s power grid aren’t thrilled with a proposal by state energy officials aimed at preventing future widespread outages such as the one during the 2021 winter storm. The Public … Continue reading

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By the way, the grid is still not fixed

In case you were wondering. A federal assessment indicates the Texas electricity grid remains almost as vulnerable to extreme winter weather as it was when it nearly collapsed during a prolonged deep freeze in February 2021 — although state utility … Continue reading

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Coulda Been Worse

Are you ready for some attack ads? A shadowy new group has purchased at least $6 million in TV ads ahead of the November election and is airing an ad that targets Gov. Greg Abbott as he runs for reelection. … Continue reading

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Beto still seeking to dismiss oligarch’s lawsuit against him

Might have better luck this time around. Remember last year when Gov. Greg Abbott’s biggest donor sued gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke for defamation, slander, and libel? Well, that’s still going on. The legal fight has moved into a state appeals … Continue reading

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We’re going to have a “colder than normal” winter

What could possibly go wrong? Savor the rest of the sweltering summer because this winter in Texas is going to be “colder than normal,” according to Farmers’ Almanac. The Almanac, which has been predicting the weather outlook for farmers and … Continue reading

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C’mon, we should get to see the city’s after-action report on the freeze

This is silly. Houston will not release its retrospective report on the 2021 winter freeze, citing a post-9/11 law shielding information that could be exposed by terrorists or criminals. The city drafted a report, called “After-Action Report/Improvement Plans for the 2021 Winter … Continue reading

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I’m sure they’ll evaluate themselves objectively

What could possibly go wrong? In October, Colorado-based E3 Consulting offered a plan for how the Public Utility Commission should redesign Texas’ deregulated power market. It produced a 44-page proposal, paid for by energy giants NRG and Chicago-based Exelon. Now … Continue reading

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Sure hope our grid can handle a bunch of crypto

I have three things to say about this. With interest surging in digital currencies and the blockchain technology behind them, more and more investors and operators are turning to Texas, lured by its cheap energy and hands-off regulatory approach. The … Continue reading

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More on the oligarch suing Beto

From the Observer; I’m picking it up after the initial statements by Beto that got Kelcy Warren’s undies in such a wad: Free-speech advocates and many legal scholars have long decried these sort frivolous lawsuits—known as SLAPPs, or Strategic Lawsuits … Continue reading

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Houston to get federal freeze recovery funds

Good. Houston is slated to get about $30 million in disaster recovery money to help address lasting needs from the February 2021 winter storm — the largest such grant in Texas, federal officials announced Tuesday. Marcia L. Fudge, secretary of … Continue reading

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Beto responds to oligarch’s lawsuit

Game on. Democrat Beto O’Rourke is blasting a pipeline company executive and top donor to Greg Abbott’s re-election campaign for filing a defamation lawsuit against him as he tries to unseat the two-term Republican governor. O’Rourke’s attorney filed a legal … Continue reading

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One of Abbott’s billionaire patrons just sued Beto

OMG, this is amazing. The former CEO of one of the nation’s biggest pipeline companies and a major donor to Gov. Greg Abbott is suing Democrat Beto O’Rourke for defamation, slander, and libel for talking about his company’s role in … Continue reading

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More on Abbott’s involvement in “getting the power back on”

Also known as more from the Brazos Electric Power Co-op lawsuit against ERCOT, but that didn’t fit well in the title. The former chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission testified in court Thursday that during last year’s winter storm and blackout Governor … Continue reading

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Go ahead and blame Greg Abbott for your high electricity bills

They really are his fault. The former head of the Texas power grid testified in court Wednesday that when he ordered power prices to stay at the maximum price cap for days on end during last year’s frigid winter storm and blackout, running up … Continue reading

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Winter storm litigation about to get busy

Some test cases will be underway soon. During the past year, the wrongful-death, personal injury and property damage lawsuits — nearly all consolidated before one judge in Houston — moved at a snail’s pace. Hardly any court hearings were conducted. … Continue reading

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