To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section, or find Observer political reporting here.
After Texas’ electrical grid failed due to a severe winter storm the week of February 15, millions across the state were left without power and water. Lawmakers began to question what went wrong and who was to blame, holding hearings that featured testimony from the CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), executives of the state’s biggest power companies, and the state’s top regulatory officials. But as Justin Miller wrote in his weekly Texas lege round-up, “that failure wasn’t limited to the energy sector. As the hearings illuminated, the governor, the lieutenant governor, the Legislature, and the regulators are responsible, too.”
Here’s more of our coverage surrounding the Texas freeze:
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ERCOT Increased Revenue and Executive Pay In Years Before Texas Power Outages: Top ERCOT officials collected six-figure salaries while failing to prepare for extreme weather events that they were warned about.
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Why Texas Wasn’t Prepared for Winter Storm Uri: A disaster management expert weighs in on how poor planning and communication failures deepened the crisis that left millions without power during the deep freeze.
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Nine Texans on How They Survived a Frozen Week: After an unprecedented freeze swept Texas, the state’s grid approached a catastrophic blackout. Millions of Texans lost power or water—or both.
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Low-Income Texans Already Face Frigid Temperatures at Home. Then the Winter Storm Hit: Power plants without insulation failed, leading to sustained blackouts. But poor insulation in homes across the state made it even harder to stay warm.
