The truth about the Texas power crisis

In the energy capital of the world, the perfect storm of power outages and harsh winter temperatures took a lethal toll. 

In February 2021, Texas suffered widespread power outages during a bitter winter storm that left millions cold, hungry, thirsty and powerless. Back in 2011, a deep freeze prompted Environment Texas Executive Director Luke Metzger to testify at a state committee hearing, where he advocated for improvements in the state’s energy infrastructure and a transition to renewable energy sources. A decade later, after another storm and blackouts swept the state and killed at least a dozen Texans, Luke argued that — counter to some claims — renewable energy was not the problem, but the solution. 

“Gas, coal and nuclear power generators came up short. The hard truth is that our energy system is more fragile than it should be,” Metzger wrote in The Dallas Morning News. “We know what needs to be done.”

Metzger advocated for greater energy efficiency, more local renewable power production, and a more resilient grid delivering power where it’s needed.

Read the opinion editorial. 

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