#Letters to the Editor — Feb. 25, 2021

The Issue: A winter storm in Texas that knocked out state residents’ power for over a week.

The premise of Kevin D. Williamson’s article rests on a flawed observation that the energy woes of Texas were a result of underperforming renewables. The author failed to note that of the 45 gigawatts of power offline, 30 gigawatts involved natural gas (“The Mess In Texas,” PostScript, Feb. 21).

In fact, it is widely acknowledged now that renewables performed better than expected, while fossil-fuel plants underperformed.

Since the piece included the exact number by which solar and wind failed, I can only assume the author also knew how much of a failure thermal plants were.

Therefore this piece is just another attempt to confuse the public and distract from the urgency with which renewables need to be implemented.

Nimisha Wasankar

Austin, Texas

Williamson puts a large part of the blame for Texas’ energy-system failure on the state’s spending on renewable energy instead of making the fossil-fuel part of the system more robust.

He is missing a very important point: Just as Texans didn’t spend to protect their traditional energy sources from cold weather, they didn’t protect their renewable sources, in particular wind, from the very same problems.

Phil Dix

Delran, NJ

The Republican Party has been successful in running against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (“Tex. gov plea for more aid,” Feb. 21).

It has raised money and frightened voters by painting her as a real danger to the American way of life.

Texas is undergoing a terrible crisis because of extreme weather. Guess who raised money to help Texans? AOC.

Not President Donald Trump, Reps. Mo Brooks or Kevin McCarthy or Sen. Ted Cruz. These self-proclaimed lovers of the average citizen have done nothing to help their fellow citizens.

As much as I do not agree with AOC’s politics, she has proven to be a real American hero.

Alan Podhaizer

Brooklyn

I’m very distressed about what is happening in Texas and the many people who are suffering dearly: the cold, the snow, the power shutdown, the lack of heat and the shortage of drinking water. This is just so sad.

My cousin, Ronald Moyne, is 72-years-old and lives in Denton, Texas, had no electric to power his home and had to boil water.

The power companies there have fallen down on the job and did not do what had to be done to protect the people of Texas with a plan in place to be ready for this disaster.

Added to all this, many are also hurting from COVID, like the rest of the nation. My prayers go out to all the people of Texas who are suffering so much.

Frederick Bedell

Bellerose

Crying Chuck Schumer should keep his nasty snide remarks about Texas to himself, as we are a self-sufficient state that believes in freedom for all Americans, not just our residents (“Tex. water-crisis fury,” Feb. 22).

It’s the only state in the lower 48 that has its own power grid, but much of that has been hampered by the new administration’s attempts to cut our sources of energy.

Perhaps if Schumer paid more attention to his killer governor, or the abundantly high murder and subway-crime rates, then New York City wouldn’t have so many people fleeing to safer places to live.

Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house, Chuckie. I’m a former New York City resident.

Douglas Ellis

Mansfield, Texas

Schumer has it backward when he says that Texas is paying the price for ignoring climate change.

Texans made the mistake of believing the global-warming alarmists who said that Texas would become hotter and drier and that snow would be a thing of the past. Why then should Texans weatherize its pipelines?

Why should the state install expensive equipment in its wind turbines to enable them to withstand extreme cold?

Texas’ mistake was listening to the apostles of global warming, not ignoring them.

Rael Isaac

Irvington

Want to weigh in on today’s stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to [email protected]. Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy and style.