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0 pointsbriffle4y ago0 comments

I think the residents of texas that had no power for days, or $15k residential bills would disagree with you. In fact, my co-worker in MN had their natural gas rates go up a very noticable jump this year due to losses the company had in texas (and having to buy gas at super inflated peak rates when many texas pumping stations had to power down, since they weren't winterized to save some money.)

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3 comments · 2 top-level

throwaway8943454y ago· 1 in thread

Can you elaborate on what nuclear regulations were lifted and how that contributed to the Texas power outage? This isn't rhetorical, I'm genuinely curious.

stjohnswarts4y ago

Nuclear regulations had nothing to do with it. Texas had very few regulations for oil/gas and for power plant winter weatherization hence the grid failed. Overall the grid is fine, but it can't handle a freak winter weather event like that, and it still can't. It has handled many summer heat events just fine (I know I've lived here for almost 15 years). Regulations are the obvious factor that lead to the failure, ERCOT has been warned (and in turn warned the politicians) about the dangers multiple times and the politicians will not pass legislation and money to fix the issue.

godelski4y ago

The parent you are responding to is talking about deregulation in a different context and with a different purpose. Regulation and deregulation are both broad terms and talking about one does not requisite jumping to a different topic. Doing so just means we'll fight all day because you can find examples on both sides where they had disastrous effects. We need to be more nuanced than this. I'll also argue that the parent should be more specific to avoid these types of responses too.

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