Today, Representatives Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) and Marc Veasey (TX-33) of the Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in response to the catastrophic power failures that have left millions freezing in the dark and left the state of Texas to declare a federal emergency across all 254 counties.
The letter specifically voices support for FERC's ongoing investigation of grid failures. It points to numerous infrastructure related causes and raises the question of what measures can be taken to properly weatherize and insulate our power plants.
The letter also asks FERC to work with Representatives in Congress to inquire about allowing limited energy transfers from elsewhere in the country into Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) territory in certain emergency situations. In the letter, the Representatives state that exploring options like this could avoid another catastrophic power failure.
“Across Houston, more than a million people have been out of power for nearly three days, and millions more across the state. Our first priority must be getting power and water back in people’s homes. After that, we have to have a full investigation into exactly what happened, why it happened, and what we need to do to make sure it does not happen again. I am glad to work with my friend from Ft. Worth, Mr. Veasey, to ensure that the FERC investigates the failures that have led to this disaster,” said Congresswoman Fletcher.
“It is unacceptable that millions of Texans are suffering in the dark right now amid freezing winter weather,” said Congressman Marc Veasey. “We need to ensure another catastrophic crisis like this never happens again. Today, I am proud to co-lead a letter with Rep. Fletcher (TX-07), a fellow Texan on the Energy and Commerce Committee, supporting FERC’s investigation looking into reasons that led to this failure and asking the entity to work with Congressional leaders to explore multifaceted options to ensure that we can avoid another power failure such as this in our state again.”
Yesterday, Reps. Fletcher and Veasey also joined their Texas colleagues in a letter to ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission. You can find the text of the letter here
