Friends,
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This newsletter usually focuses on subjects that are adjacent to the major story of the day. But today, we’re going to talk about Texas.
Carrie here. The comparisons to Hurricane Katrina are steadily increasing. As the energy grid resuscitates itself, residents now face a slew of new problems: food shortages, water outages and bursting pipes. These problems disproportionately affect people of color, which you can read about in Texas Tribune’s reporting (and especially this story).
The long-lasting implications of this winter story feel prescient. As someone living in Los Angeles during last summer’s outages, this quote resonated: “... the past is no longer a good guide to the future. We have to get much better at preparing for the unexpected.”
In lieu of our standard water-cooler chat, we’re handing over the mics to two of our friends in Texas: Emma in Austin (Emily’s friend from college, who is now a grad student at UT’s LBJ School of Public Affairs), and Sameer in Houston (Carrie’s friend since their days working at the National Spelling Bee, a story for another time).
First of all, how are you?
Emma: Personally, I'm so much better. It's been a physically and emotionally exhausting week—and I had it so much better than so many others. But a good night's sleep and getting power back have lifted my spirits.
Sameer: I'm equal parts livid, frustrated, and tired. Also, sort of intellectually stimulated (as power markets are my jam). Most of all—really, really distracted. For the first time in over a decade, I'm also doubting my decision to live in my home state.
If you’re up for it, mind telling us a bit about your experience over the past few days?
Emma: Monday morning, I woke up with no power. By Monday night the house was pretty uncomfortably cold, but we bundled up and piled on blankets and slept here. By then temperatures outside were in the single digits and, for comparison, about a week ago it has been in the mid-70s.
Tuesday the house was even chillier. I could even see my breath inside my house by mid-day. So, I finally gave up on my house and went to warm up at a friend's place who was about a mile away and had power.
It was quite a moment to think about balancing the risks I was taking by staying home and freezing, versus heading to a friend's house and possibly exposing myself to covid. I decided to sleep at my friend's place and was thrilled to wake up Wednesday to a text that we had power back at my house.
Unfortunately, the power outages have now led to some other crises. We're now under orders to conserve water because of so many broken pipes and high demand from dripping faucets and other things. We're definitely on the upswing now, but there are still so many people hurting.
Sameer: My wife and I had a Valentine's Day dinner and went to sleep. Then everything got real, and I woke up to no power (and to my father calling to ask about what to do).
I've spent the days since then, checking multiple sources (and chatting with folks I know in the industry) to find out what's happening. Also, most people I know have been looking at the graph on the ERCOT home page, and trying to use it to predict whether their lights are going to come back on. It's exhausting.
Power has, obviously, been sporadic. Our first outage was 19 hours, and we did not know whether it'd come back until after the crisis abated. As of Wednesday afternoon, we appeared to be in 2-hour cycles—so, better? However, now Houston is under a water-boil notice, so that's fun.
Lack of focus is not really normal for me, but it's been happening more lately. COVID, the elections, and now Tex-ocalypse—living through history is distracting.
What’s one thing people are not talking about enough?
Emma: The lack of preparation or warning. We knew there was a cold snap, including some snow, coming. But I think it's safe to say no one in the broader public had a sense that we were on the precipice of a major crisis. When we get around to trying to understand what went wrong, I want to know who knew the risks here and why the public wasn't warned.
And also I don't think there's enough conversation about helping out those still in need. I look forward to working to hold Texas leadership accountable for this absolute failure of infrastructure and leadership, but I really hope that waits until our neighbors are out of the cold and have food back in their fridges.
Sameer: What exactly is broken?!?!! Knowing what's broken, and what types of things might need to happen in order for them to be fixed, would make us all feel better.
Some people were doing higher-order work, and had power. People literally across the street from them were in sleeping bags, on couches, in houses that were 37 degrees _inside_. It's not abstract to me at all.
Thank you, Emma & Sameer, for giving us a window into the world in Texas right now. We really appreciate it. To our readers, please see this google doc for where to find food and warmth assistance in Texas and this Twitter thread of mutual aid and other organizations you can support.
Thoughts on energy grids, Texas or winter? Feedback? You can respond directly to this email.
Hang in there, readers.
Carrie & Emily