The Texas Energy Crisis: The Consequences of Climate Change as a Partisan Issue

Texas’ February winter storm caused both renewable and nonrenewable energy sources to fail. Photo by Diann Bayes.

Last February, Texas experienced record low temperatures that left millions without access to energy and killed more than 20 people. As the unprecedented winter storm hit Texas and temperatures dropped, demand for energy surged. In response to this increased demand for energy, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) decided to institute rolling blackouts which ultimately lasted for days for millions of Texans.

In his initial response, Texas’ Governor Greg Abbott said “This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America. Our wind and our solar got shut down, and they were collectively more than 10 percent of our power grid, and that thrust Texas into a situation where it was lacking power on a statewide basis. ... It just shows that fossil fuel is necessary.”

Abbott’s claim that the energy crisis was caused by green energy was quickly found to be false. Rather, the statewide power outages were not caused by frozen wind turbines but from the failure to winterize Texas’ energy system, which included fossil fuel pipelines. In fact, while both renewable and nonrenewable energy sources failed, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy systems were responsible for nearly twice as many power outages.

Nonetheless, claims blaming green energy for this crisis were echoed by other conservative leaders. As Texans continued to face power outages, several Republicans seized the opportunity to attack the Green New Deal and the Democratic push to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. In a tweet responding to the crisis, Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw stated: “This is what happens when you force the grid to rely in part on wind as a power source. When weather conditions get bad as they did this week, intermittent renewable energy like wind isn’t there when you need it.” Like Abbott, Rep. Crenshaw’s claim was also quickly falsified.

Although a growing number of Americans believe climate change should be prioritized in Congress, it is still a highly partisan issue, and Texas is no exception. A 2019 poll found that 42% of Texan Republicans did not believe climate change was happening, while only 3% of Texan Democrats believed the same. Abbott has echoed his party’s sentiment. In 2018, when asked if human-caused climate change has contributed to natural disasters in Texas, he refused to speak on the issue because he is not a scientist. Abbott is yet to admit that climate change poses a real threat. Fossil fuels (which are considered to be the primary cause of climate change) make up about 66% of Texas’ energy grid. Therefore, when climate change became a talking point of the energy crisis, Abbott did not want to associate fossil fuels with both causing the energy crisis and contributing to climate change. Instead, he chose to blame renewable energy sources for the crisis.

In addition to his fear of losing support from Texan Conservatives, Abbott also receives aid from the oil and gas industry. In fact, more than $26 million of his contributions have come from this industry. Abbott has also demonstrated the intention to run for re-election, and as the 2022 gubernatorial election approaches, Abbott seeks to continue to receive support from the industry. Abbott's quickness to blame wind and solar for the energy crisis may be attributed to the fact that Texas is the largest U.S gas and oil-producing state. This phenomenon, in addition to the tendency of Democrats to trust climate scientists more than Republicans, has led climate change to become a highly polarizing issue in America. 

The Texas energy crisis isn’t the first instance where Abbott utilized climate change as a tool to polarize his constituents while reinvigorating his base of support. Abbott has been on record denying climate change, stating that climate scientists lack consensus on their findings (which is false) and that their findings need to continue to be investigated. Additionally, a month prior to the energy crisis, Abbott vowed to fight against the Biden’s administration's plans to combat climate change stating that he wanted “...to make clear that Texas is going to protect the oil and gas industry from any type of hostile attack from Washington, DC.". 

Abbott has established that his conservative platform leaves no room for climate action. During his time as Attorney General, Abbott filed 31 suits against the Obama Administration, many of which dealt with EPA regulations that regulated water quality and toxic emissions from power plants. In the future, climate scientists warned that Texas would continue to experience extreme weather as fossil fuel emission exacerbates climate change. 

This trend of climate change polarization will continue to work against the call for climate action, both inside and outside of Texas. As climate change promises to continue to cause extreme weather events, Texas will continue to experience the effects of a changing climate. The energy crisis was a glimpse into what power grids across America could face as climate change escalates. Texas is the top producer of greenhouse gases in America, which leaves Texas plenty of room for improvement, and therefore opens the opportunity for Texas to become a leader in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

During his campaign trail, President Biden proposed a $2 trillion plan to combat climate change and accelerate the use of clean energy in the transportation, electricity, and building sectors. It is imperative that both the Biden-Harris administration and Abbott use this energy crisis as an opportunity to improve power grids and work to reduce fossil fuel emissions by investing in green energy. Abbott must recognize that his disposition to denounce climate change and renewable energy sources ultimately harms his constituents, as no one is exempt from the consequences of climate change. If Texas hopes to avoid crises in the future, both Republicans and Democrats must work to depolarize the issue of climate change and encourage bipartisan support for combating climate change by endorsing green energy.

Depolarization of the climate crisis is essential for significant progress to occur. Bipartisan support for climate change is relatively rare in Congress, but proposals such as the Clean Energy Future through Innovation Act of 2020 establish that the only way to effectively confront both energy crises and climate change is through bipartisan support. In the future, energy must continue to be advanced in a way that both reduces fossil fuel emissions and improves energy systems without concern of partisanship. 

Jocelyn Fahlen is a staff writer at CPR and a first year studying Environmental Science and Political Science.