67 Hours, 14 Minutes: Reflections on Ice
Some Thoughts on the Massive Texas Energy Fiasco/Freezeout/Blackout/Lenten Season/Days of Atonement of Cold February 2021
As you may have heard, because apparently the stupidity, ignorance, greed and evil ways of the people in charge of the state of Texas has (not for the first time) become international news, in mid-February large parts of the state were hit with a huge arctic air mass resulting in significant snow, ice, and sub-freezing temperatures for an extended period that nobody, but nobody, was prepared for. Oh, except there was ample advance warning from meteorologists that the Republican ESIIC (Evil, Selfish Ignoramuses in Charge) of the state disregarded, because who knew what cold weather could do, and in any case it’s better than being beholden to the Feds and their evil National Energy Grid? In the very intermittent moments my emails came through during the Dark, Cold Period, people far away as the Netherlands were inquiring as to the condition my condition was in, and said they hoped I’m staying warm.
I began writing this on Wednesday afternoon, February 17, 42 hours and counting since the power and Internet went out in my house at 5:45 p.m. Monday. At that time my 16-year-old autistic son was close to a meltdown over not being able to view Little Einstein videos on his iPad, my wife needed medication from the pharmacy at a shuttered Walgreens down the road, and my other 16-year-old son just came back from walking in slushy ice and snow to the nearest 7–11 for food, to find it closed as well. Me, I was just sitting on the living room couch, woolen blanket on my lap, venting on my MacBook, an angry young man with something to say.
While some neighborhoods received the benefit of “rolling blackouts” — three hours on, three hours off, that sort of thing — over here, it was nothing but straight nothing. Every few hours I texted STAT to Austin Energy for an update, knowing full well what their response would be, namely the same it had been since the lights went out:
We are aware of an outage affecting [INSERT YOUR STREET ADDRESS HERE]. Crews need more time to restore power safely. Thanks for your patience.
“More time” is, of course, an intentionally vague concept. Suddenly, everyone in Texas became an instant expert on wind turbines and ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), the ironically named agency responsible for energy regulation in the state. Explains a politically minded acquaintance: “Texas created its own grid to avoid federal regulation including common-sense moves like winterizing gas pipes, wind turbines, and power stations. And without having to comply with those regulations so that a few well-connected Republican donors who own power companies could get rich, the people suffer when it’s cold and natural gas plants don’t work, natural gas pipelines and well heads freeze, and circuits fail in the freezing cold.”
Since others more schooled than me in the ways of energy use and abuse and Texas have made the point ad nauseam, I won’t digress too much except to say I know that the Texas energy grid — most of the state is completely off of the two national grids — is far more reliant on fossil fuels than wind power, and blaming the still-hypothetical Green New Deal on the Lone Star State’s transition to a third-world failed state is yet another shameless right-wing lie in the endless effort to polarize everything.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve lived in Texas since 2002. I like Texans, by and large, though I will never consider myself to be one of them. There are a lot of good, smart, creative people here. Austin, for all the hype, is still a great town. Unfortunately, the good, smart, creative, competent people don’t run the state. It’s the Republican ESIIC I hate. A lot of people are pissed off at them, from the clueless governor Greg “I don’t give a shit about you, go blame someone else” Abbott on down, and I hope enough will retain that anger long enough for some heads to roll, Bubba.
Texans, per the stereotype, are supposed to be self-reliant, independent types who are all about Freedom and, every once in a while, drop hints about seceding. In fact, a lot of Texans — or at least the Republican variant — are basically just a bunch of greedy, selfish, ignorant, gun-worshipping, Bible-thumping assholes who don’t care about anyone else besides themselves and their like-minded pals. These qualities, mind you, certainly aren’t unique to Texans. I lived for many years in New England, where they had more than their share of stubborn, independent assholes too, but on the whole New Englanders are a better class of assholes than Texans (and, of course, my fellow native New Yorkers make the best assholes of all).
If you or I were to journalize this story in the way of newspapers, we might focus on (page 1) the how-and-why of things went wrong, and the misjudgments and greed of the mighty; (deeper in) the genuine neighborliness, kindness, and generosity of so many of my near and not-so-near neighbors as they donated food and water to the foodless and waterless, checked in on the elderly residents of assisted-living facilities, raised funds to help in a myriad of ways, or just made themselves available to people who needed assistance. I don’t need to restate here which elected officials acted above and beyond, and which ones just made themselves scarce (until they were called out on it).
The lights came on again at 12:59 p.m. on Thursday the 18th, after 67 hours and 14 minutes of no electricity, heat, or Internet, and very limited cellphone and texting ability. Some had it better, some worse; I’ve heard reports of up to 89 hours in the dark and cold. I can’t imagine, said friends from outside the state.
In truth, from almost the moment the lights came back on, the mind urges you on to forget, to put it behind you, to get back to normal (whatever that is these days). But I don’t want to forget what it felt like, how I’d never been so angry at politicians in my life as I was at the evil, incompetent, greedy, uncaring crooked schmucks who run Texas, putting so many lives in danger and, in fact, leading to a lot of deaths, illness, and mental anguish. I hope my neighbors, near and far, remember those feelings when it comes time to vote once again in the latest Most Important Election of Our Lifetimes.
What is it that I want from my elected officials?
Competence.
Some degree of compassion.
Honesty.
A good work ethic.
The ability to play well with others, and ask for help when needed.
Knowledge of the legislative terrain and how to get things done.
Not to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The basics. Nothing crazy.
I couldn’t care less if someone “makes history” by becoming the first Asian-American disabled lesbian combat veteran US senator. That is about 0.05% of what’s important about their election. You want to know what I care about? See above. If they’re smart, if they work hard for the Peoppollee (that’s four syllables, to rhyme with “monopoly”), if they’re honest, if they know what they’re doing, and are able and willing to do their damn job, everything else is a footnote.
I don’t care which word comes before the hyphen before “American” in their bio, whether they’re the first this or the first that, whether they “look like me,” where their parents or grandparents were born, who they’re sleeping with, or how old they are.
Yes, equal opportunity is good and should be a goal, but in the end, I expect my power to be on, I want a fair chance to be able to get a decent job, that the deck won’t be stacked against me for irrelevant reasons beyond my control (there’s the part of non-discrimination I really care about, not the symbolic “first Rigellian to be elected to national office” crap), and I want my family to be happy, healthy, and safe. And, I assume, so do you; and if all that is in fact done for you and I, I assume society as a whole is going to be in good shape or at least better than it is right now.
All the rest is nonessential, and as fleeting as the snows of February.
