Winter storms have caused at least 14 deaths across four states.
These storms caused a deadly tornado in North Carolina while it frosted power grids in other states, leading to rolling blackouts when people need heat the most.
The deaths include three people killed when a tornado struck coastal North Carolina around midnight Monday, destroying homes and injuring at least 10 other people.To date, the fatalities have been heavily concentrated in Texas, and especially Houston, where more than 4 million residents have been without power for more than 24 hours amid bitterly cold temperatures and dangerously icy conditions.
And while I featured Texas in my first post on this subject, 13 other states are also facing the possibility of power outages because of the conditions.
A major power-grid manager that operates in states from North Dakota to Texas has ordered rolling blackouts amid an extreme cold blast that has hit much of the US.Southwest Power Pool, which is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, ordered the rolling blackouts Monday, declaring an energy emergency. Extreme weather had already taken out power for millions of homes in Texas, where temperatures hit record lows.According to The New York Times, the organization manages the electric grid used in all of Oklahoma and Kansas and parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, and New Mexico.The grid operator said in a statement on Twitter that this was the first time it had ordered mass rolling blackouts and that it was doing so to prevent further uncontrolled power failures.
The winter storm may be the “cold shower” this country needs to re-evaluate the condition of our electrical infrastructure, including reliance on green energy sources that have less-than-robust technology.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson had a chilling summary of our electrical grid’s state and the consequences of not being prepared for extreme cold.
Carlson’s entire monologue was excellent. However, his addressing the climate activists’ “existential threat” mantra was the show-stopper:
“Climate crisis”, “existential threat”, “ambitious plan”. You hear those phrases a lot and you’ll notice that they are all suspiciously non-precise. So what do they mean for you? Will they mean higher energy prices? For starters, gas prices are already up, in case you haven’t noticed. Electricity will follow. Higher costs hurt the weakest, inflation always does, but it’s worse than that. Green energy inevitably means blackouts.Someday that may change as technology progresses, but as of right now and given the current state of technology, green energy means a less reliable power grid. It means failures like the ones we’re seeing now in Texas. That’s not a talking point, that is true. It’s science. So of course, they’re denying it.
No power is more of an “existential threat” than any dreamed up by bureaucrats and green-energy-connected politicians.
It is hard to believe that a few short months ago, the country was energy-independent and had plans to upgrade its infrastructure.
Prayers to all those experiencing power outages in the Great Plains states. At least in California, we don’t generally get blackouts in sub-zero weather.
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