Already we are off to a great start in 2021. Among all of the issues of 2020 and the ones surrounding the inauguration, Texas is now experiencing a multitude of problems at the current moment because of very low temperatures in the region. Something that seems to be normal for people who live up here turned out to be a disaster in Texas. There is a multitude of political issues surrounding the issue. The first and maybe the most obvious is that this is in part due to the fact that Texas never allowed energy to come in from out of state in order to avoid regulation from the federal government. Now it seems that Texas is finally paying for this decision. I think that each state has the choice to do something with its energy grid similar to Texas but I think that in an increasingly technological age states need to begin to protect their most important assets from any threat. Whether it’s an attack or Mother Nature, the US needs to increase the vitality of our power system.

Another very interesting that I have had the privilege of  looking into is the fact that Joe Biden has recently revoked an executive order that prevented other states from “any acquisition, importation, transfer, or installation” of bulk-power system (BPS) electrical equipment by “foreign adversaries.” I’m not sure if another state had anything to do with what is going on in Texas, but what I do know is that an executive order that seems to be objectively beneficial to the country was recently revoked by Joe Biden for unknown reasons and motives. This to me raises red flags and I personally would like to know why the executive order was repealed, especially because of Joe Biden’s personal connection to China and other states.

Furthermore, this seems like it will only continue to happen because of climate change. With climate change, global temperatures will rise, storms will become worse, and radical weather patterns will become much more frequent. With this in mind, we need to think about preventing situations like we are seeing in Texas from happening again. Like I said earlier in this post, I think we need to build the versatility of our infrastructure.

Furthermore, I think it’s important to note that the response to this disaster has been a disaster. Power companies in Texas have been price gauging citizens who are already freezing to death. Millions of regular people have no power but the skylines of the large cities in Texas where all of the “important” business centers are, are as bright as ever. I’m also pretty disappointed in the leadership in Texas. While all of this is going on, a mayor has resigned and Texas’ most influential politician Ted Cruz is on vacation to Cancun.

All of this being said, I’m not very optimistic for the future but I think everything that I have outlined needs to be discussed and hopefully prevented in the future by stronger legislation.

Cites:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-set-stage-its-energy-crisis-more-80-years-ago-n1258341

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/deep-freeze-subsides-texans-now-face-electricity-bills-10-000-n1258362

https://disrn.com/news/biden-reverses-trump-ban-on-chinese-communist-involvement-in-us-power-grid

https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/texas