On Monday after the brutal winter storm, I wanted to talk to as many people across Texas as I could, so I traveled from Houston to Dallas, Abilene, Lubbock and Midland meeting with people and talking to the media. I plan to travel to other cities in the future. I want Texans to know that I am determined to find out what the heck went wrong in the recent power outages and that I am going to fix it. As I told you in my video from Second Baptist last week, I am working with both Governor Abbott and Speaker Phelan, who I know also want to get to the bottom of this, but I am personally taking the responsibility to fix this on my shoulders. I will not let a bill come to the Senate floor that does not fix these problems and ensure this will never happen again.
If you’d like to see the news reports from those press conferences, you can watch them here.
Houston – Abilene – Dallas – Lubbock – Midland
The Faulkner Focus: Texas’ Winter Storm
I joined Harris Faulkner on her new program, the Faulkner Focus, Wednesday morning to talk about Texas’ response to the winter storm, as well as President Joe Biden’s decision to open the borders – a move which is already having a harmful impact on Texas. Click here to watch.
A Smoking Gun …
On Thursday, the Texas Senate began their investigation into the power outages, led by Senate Business and Commerce Committee. After over 23 hours of hearings, those who should be accountable for our electrical grid and power did not have very good answers to the senators’ questions. I have made reform of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) one of my top priorities this session, along with stability of the grid, Senate Bills 2 and 3.
Curt Morgan, CEO of VistraCorp, gave testimony in the power outage investigation hearings that could be a smoking gun.
On February 9th, Morgan’s company experts projected a 74K megawatt demand. ERCOT was projecting the demand would be in the mid-60’s. Morgan was right. ERCOT was wrong.
On February 10th, Morgan told ERCOT they didn’t have enough energy to meet the likely demand. He said he was surprised at ERCOT’s lack of urgency. He said he was also surprised that no red flags were raised, adding that the Governor, the Lt. Governor and legislative leaders should have been told there was a pending power shortage.
As your Lt. Governor, I was not told there was not enough power to meet the likely demand.
Top 31 Legislative Priorities
On Tuesday, I announced my top 31 priorities for the 2021 Legislative Session. They are designed to protect taxpayers and the Texas economy as it rebuilds following the pandemic and to secure Texas’ future, including addressing power failures in the recent winter storm. As always, the legislation I am prioritizing also includes continued support for life, liberty and conservative Texas values. My priorities are your priorities and reflect the agenda of the Texas conservative majority.
Biden’s COVID-19 Bill Includes $112 million for a train!
I am sure you saw that the House Democrats in Washington finally passed their 600-page bill that is supposed to be Biden’s plan to recover COVID-19. It includes 112 million for a transit train in San Francisco, as well as millions for something called “racial justice for farmers.” Here are 10 crazy examples of waste and partisan kick-backs in Nancy Pelosi’s new ‘COVID’ bill that have nothing to do with COVID-19.
Please continue to keep our state and our nation in your prayers. Pray for the families who have lost loved ones to coronavirus and for our heroic health care workers. And, as always, keep our brave law enforcement officers in your prayers. May God bless you and your family, and may He continue to bless the greatest state of all—Texas.
Sincerely,
Dan Patrick
Lieutenant Governor of Texas
