Barbaraok

Chalkie, did you check out the group that published this? They area center-right group in Minnesota and even they said the problem was LACK OF WINTERIZATION! And that was THROUGH-OUT the entire system. Focusing on wind was a clear bias on their part. The whole focus should be on WHY NO WINTERIZING and the answer is no regulatory obversite, which is counter to what these groups want!

Yes, new variants will keep being seen as long as the virus is still being passed from person to person. Viruses do that because EACH person they infect might have something unique that the virus will incorporate into their current RNA strand, and if that new bit of code helps the virus pass more easily, thus more people are infected, making more copies, more getting passed along. Went enough people are vaccinated, fewer people getting and passing along the virus, means fewer changes, eventually leading to extinction IF we get enough people vaccinated. IF more people would be vaccinated for flu each year, the less flu virus there would be and fewer new variants would be seen. If we could just get people to realize that next fall, they need to wear their masks when going out during flu season, we could save lives and reduce costs - but I won't hold my breathe that will happen - but I will wear a mask to grocery stores, etc.!

Velos, we used Lomborg's book "Skeptical Environmentalist" in 2004-2005 to teach our Freshman Seminar course "Environmental Facts and Fictions". Yes and the reason is that after thousands of years people have learned that human adaptation comes only at the point of desperation. Look at how many decades farmers on the prairies were warned that plowing long, long, long straight lines would lead to toil soil erosion. "But the snows gives up plenty of soil moisture" - until it didn't and the DUST BOWL was the result. Look at the push back just on this forum - the idea that electric vehicles, in some form or another, are coming gets people inflamed. "Can't happen" type attitude instead of "gee, that is going to be interesting. Wonder how they are going to set up enough charging stations" These were 18 yr. old that we were teaching and for the most part embraced the idea of alternatives UNTIL we asked what they were will to do to help with change. They were ok with a lot of things until it came to having to give up THEIR OWN CAR! 😎 First, what generating capacity did the EPA prevent from coming online? Where's the link to this information?

Railroads now managed by TxDOT. Railroad Commission is oil and gas.

Bruce, in this case I think there was a winter in ~1903 where the temperatures were as cold and reached the RGV. Of course, very few people so the severity is harder to measure - - indoor plumbing and electricity weren't wide spread. Pandemic, 1918-1922 is similar to this years - beyond most people's memory and therefore people think it was "tales like grandparents tell" and don't learn from history. NOT designing for at least a 100 yr event seems foolhardy given what we have seen in the past decades. And it isn't just the design, it is also MAINTENANCE and if there is no regulations, maintenance is through by the wayside.

Wonder if that is why every bridge has weight limits posted? Usually in terms of weight on the heaviest axle of the vehicle going across. Why wouldn't you design for a minimum of 100 yr storm since they do occur and no one knows WHEN they will occur? Cost more, sure, but how many billions will be spent trying to remediate the damage that has been done by by not having regulations in place?

NO, natural gas goes through pipelines as gas. When it is shipped in trucks, railroad tank cars or shipped, it is compressed and becomes liquified natural gas and is easier to transport.

They are part of the Western Grid. What people don't know about rolling blackouts is that they happen all across the country when an area is under increased demand. Being on the grid doesn't guarantee that you will get all of the power you need, just that you will get as much as others can share. When a huge region is under excessive heat, for example, then several states may be getting rolling blackouts. And in California, during the Santa Anas, some of the blackouts are do to not sending ANY POWER, from any where, down transmission lines that are blowing in the wind because you don't want those big lines sparking as they are torn from the transmission towers starting fires, or in neighborhoods falling into fields, roads, etc. We had threat of rolling blackouts last summer in Arizona when the wildfires in the Superstitions were generating ash that was falling on big transmission lines and arcing - the system took those lines out of service for a day and everyone was asked to set AC to a minimum setting of 82°.

Since Texas has no connection to the national grid, how is this happening?

Also workers can’t get to work because they are trying to,keep family gpomg?

Clearly 100 yr events are happening more often. BUT, if part of the national grid system power would have been routed to help Texas! and they as much as you all seem to want, change is coming. You can stick your head in the sand, or realize that your kids and grandkids will decide, not you. Kirk, I have always noticed a glow around you. 😎

Kirk, stay safe. I'm glad your son knew where to turn off his water when he discovered a burst pipe. So many residents have no idea where to shut of water coming into the house and result is so, so much damage.

Mea Culpa for forgetting the year of 3 Mile Island and for the Typo. Nothing in 2 decades has come on line.

In some parts of the state it really does blow just about 24/7. Sort of like Oklahoma - windy every day "And the wind comes sweeping down the plains!"

Charlie, I looked at the list, but nothing started operation in DECADES. Building it doesn't ensure it will become operational. Still the problem with no waste since since Yukon Mountain (which is safe) was shut down.

And that is how likely to happen? We no longer have a viable site for nuclear fuel rod storage, and nothing has come on line since 3 Mile Island incident.

But they don't freeze in Iowa or Sweden or Denmark or .... They froze BECAUSE OF TEXAS DEREGULATION. They could have been weather hardened, same as all of the valves, etc., in other power generating systems, but they weren't because of deregulation and pulling out of the national power grid. This was a Katrine-level event for the bureaucracy in Texas.

One of the nuclear plants had problems because valves were cold weather protected, froze, and cooling water was cut off for a period of time so the system scrambled as it should and went down. Took awhile to bring it back online. Why are you seeking to make excuses for the lack of adequate winter protection regulations to keep everything in place? This was a failure made possible by 'deregulate everything' mindset. Regulations come about because of problems that society decides should not occur!

Last time we were there you could pick up mail after 1:00 pm in the afternoon, IIRC.

Wind is only 25% of the power generated in Texas and they don't requite cold wear protection. When wind went down, other power generators COULD NOT COME BACK ON LINE so that their backup system FAILED and since they pulled out of the national electrical grid, there was no way to get extra electricity to them. Simple methods that Iowa uses to ensure wind turbines keep going could have kept more power up, but Texas wanting to deregulate everything has proven to be a disaster. AND some natural gas power plants that were operating also went down because they did not have adequate cold weather protection for valves, etc. NO ONE source of power generation is adequate in a modern country.

Power generation not gas generation. Do you not understand that the electricity is off because they haven't got enough power generation plants running? The ELECTRIC GRID failed. Even if natural gas is still flowing, most homeowners can't keep furnace going because NO ELECTRICITY for electronic ignition and fans to blow warm air through the house. What ever you heard politicians say at the start of this, do yourself a favor and read some of the Texas papers from Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, etc. Only place not having a problem is El Paso because they are part of the Western Electrical Grid - too far away from any Texas grid.

UT Medical Branch Full Letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. Notice it is a small sample, but still enough to provide protection. And because mutations always occur, we will be getting booster shots next year to increase immunity.

Weather Channel was showing videos last night from homeowners of the water pouring from broken pipes in the ceilings of their homes as the water system starts up again and it is FLOODING the homes. I don't think a lot of homeowners even know where or how to turn off the water to their homes.

Actually it is the valves in the natural gas pipelines, etc., that will freeze up because they aren't designed to work in the type of cold/icing conditions that occurred, plus a lot of natural gas wells have water vapor carried up with the gas and that also force between they were able to 'dry' the gas. And there was more demand for power than they had generating stations up and running to handle, they normal shut some power plants down in winter when demand is low compared to summer to do maintenance, etc.

My daughter's school on the north side of Fort Worth closed for the whole week. There are outages at the school off and on, they are worried about pipes breaking and hoping they can get it ready for Monday. Daughter isn't looking forward to having to use buckets again to flush the toilets! Oh well, they need to get the kids back to school because so many depend upon school for breakfast and lunches as well as take home packs for the weekend!