Calls on the Governor of Texas to resign as he attributes the lack of energy to wind and solar energy

While millions of Texans were desperately struggling to stay warm amid power outages stemming from the devastating winter storm sweeping the country, the state’s Republican governor on Tuesday blamed black and solar energy for the blackouts – despite the fact that Texas relied predominantly on fossil fuels – and claimed that The Crisis shows that the New Green Deal would be a “deadly deal” for the United States.

“Texas is blessed with multiple sources of energy, like natural gas and oil and nuclear, as well as solar and wind,” Governor Greg Abbott said in an appearance on “Hannity” Tuesday night. “Our wind and solar power systems were shut down and, together, they were more than 10% of our power grid. And that put Texas in a state of power outage across the state.”

Abbott was far from the first Republican to deploy these blatantly false talking points in response to the ongoing Texas crisis, which left at least 10 people dead. But the governor’s decision to appear in the Fox News and attacking a policy that was not even implemented, as Texans resorted to burning their belongings to keep their children warm, was seen as yet another example of their failed leadership.

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“Five million Texans are without power tonight and temperatures are below freezing. People will certainly die tonight from this.” said Sawyer Hackett, senior advisor to Julián Castro. “But Governor Abbott had time to accuse Sean Hannity of blaming the Green New Deal.”

Quoting an official from the State Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT), The Texas Tribune reported that on Tuesday afternoon “16 gigawatts of renewable energy generation, mainly wind power, was offline. Almost twice that, 30 gigawatts, were lost from thermal sources, which include gas, coal and nuclear power.”

“Texas is a gaseous state,” said Michael Webber, professor of energy resources at the University of Texas at Austin. Tribune. “The gas is failing in the most spectacular way right now.”

But that didn’t stop Texas Republicans like Abbott and Rep. Dan Crenshaw of trying to blame frozen wind turbines for outages that could go on for days, putting lives at risk and vaccines against the coronavirus.

In response to Abbott’s “Hannity” interview, Texas voting rights defender Charlie Bonner tweeted, “He’s lying. People are dying, and he’s Fox News lying to you. We are living in fear and Greg Abbott is playing politics with our lives. “

“Greg Abbott doesn’t care if you live or die tonight, so take care of each other, my friends,” added Bonner. “We are living in a state of failure.”

Castro sent a similar message on Tuesday afternoon, writing that “Governor Abbott failed to prepare for this storm, was too slow to respond and now blames everyone but himself for this mess.”

“He neglected the state’s outdated and unregulated power grid,” said Castro. “4.4 million Texans now have no energy in freezing conditions.”

On a interview on ABC 13 in Houston the previous Tuesday, Abbott said ERCOT employees – the agency that oversees the Texas power grid – should step down because they were not sufficiently transparent with the people of Texas during the storm and its aftermath.

But Abhi Rahman, director of communications for the Texas Democrats, said Abbott is the one who should step aside.

“Abbott is the leader of the state,” said Rahman. “He is informed about emergencies. He must be the one who resigns.”

In a statement earlier this week, as temperatures dropped and millions lost power, Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said “Abbott’s inability to govern is not only negligent, but incredibly dangerous”.

“People are freezing. Families cannot open the refrigerator, heat food or fetch supplies, ”said Hinojosa. “Much like the coronavirus crisis, Abbott’s neglect has once again put lives at risk. Abbott owes an explanation to the people of Texas. And Texans deserve more than failed leaders who couldn’t get out of a shoe box. . “

This article first appeared in Common Dreams. You can read this on here.