ercot tex grid
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gov abbot sez fixed but </font><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ANTI-GUBMINT SO INTENTIONALLY NOT CONNECTED TO THE NATIONAL GRID?!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="white-space:pre"> </span>WIND FAIL B/C DID NOT WINTERIZE?<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="white-space:pre">nat gas lines froze?</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">NOTE 7 23 SOLAR IS SAVING TEXAS FROM HEAT KATRINA?!</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>aha: alt fact echo chamber/ tribal creates pre-conditions for</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><b>
</b></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>stunning bad faith alt fact earth2</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guk ref no lnx gfx</font></div><div>
</div><div>Alarm at rightwing push to reverse clean-energy success in Texas and beyond</div><div>
</div><div>Supporters of clean energy say they expect further battles ahead to prevent state’s progress in solar and wind from being unwound</div><div>
</div><div>Oliver Milman and <b>Dharna Noor</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>Thu<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> 8 Jun 2023 </span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the scramble before the end of Texas’s legislative session last week,<b> a must-pass bill was amended to impose new costs upon renewable energy. </b>This came amid a barrage of anti-solar and wind power measures pushed forward by Republicans to reshape a state that has become the US’s powerhouse of clean energy.</span></div><div>
</div><div>But the conservative lawmakers had help.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sections of the bill that impose new burdens upon clean energy providers were </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">directly crafted and edited by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (or TPPF</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">), a conservative group that has led the backlash to renewables and to make what it calls “the moral case for fossil fuels”, according to a copy of the draft language seen by the Guardian.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Several dozen edits were made to the bill’s amendments by Brent Bennett, a TPPF policy staffer, the document shows, and Texas lawmakers subsequently passed parts of this language along with the key TPPF desires – to impose new transmission costs on renewables and <b>require them to source fossil fuel “backup” power when the sun isn’t shining or wind isn’t blowing.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The passage of the bill, which funds the ongoing operation of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, was the flagship victory for TPPF even as a raft of other Republican bills that would have “shut down the renewable energy industry in Texas”,</span> as energy analyst Doug Lewin put it, faltered.</div><div>
</div><div>The burgeoning influence of TPPF, an organization substantially funded by fossil fuel interests and <b>publicly lauded by Greg Abbott</b>, Texas’s Republican governor, is the catalyst to a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">rightwing attempt to crimp the stunning progress of renewable energy in the state</span>, which<b> now produces more than a quarter of all wind-powered electricity in the US.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The group’s agenda is now extending far beyond Texas</b>, bankrolling efforts to halt offshore wind turbines in Massachusetts and to prop up coal power on native American land in Arizona while spearheading efforts to crack down on sustainable finance in energy-producing states like West Virginia.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“We are very influential, we are meeting with policymakers to share recommendations and we’re having success around the country,” said <b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Jason Isaac, </span>a former state representative and now director of TPPF’s energy initiatives.</b> Isaac said that TPFF regularly helped craft “certain aspects” of bills in Texas related to the state’s electricity grid or environmental, social, and corporate governance (o<b>r ESG) issues.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>“I think conservatives are slowly but surely moving away from variable generation and towards reliable generation,”</b> he said of the group’s quest against renewables. Isaac claimed <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">renewables have been unfairly propped up by a “cult-like fascination”</span> among politicians who have pursued what he called a “<b>dangerous and deadly” agenda to reduce planet-heating emissions.</b></div><div>
</div><div>The aggressive push against renewables in Texas has alarmed environmentalists who fret it will undermine the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">state’s nation-leading wind industry and threaten the revenues solar and wind generates for local communities and farmer</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">s. More broadly, the template used by TPPF in Texas could hobble efforts by Joe Biden’s administration to tackle the climate crisis.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“We are seeing a rush of these bills attempting to wind the clock back on renewables and TPPF really are at the point of the spear on this,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “They are transparent advocates for the fossil fuel industry and I think they pose an incredible threat to renewables. <b>TPPF have gained incredible traction, they really are shifting the narrative in Texas.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“They’ve won over the top politicians in the state, which is very dangerous. Texas is going to be critical if the US going to get to net zero emissions, so we should take this threat seriously.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>TPPF’s impact can now be found thousands of miles from its base in Austin, Texas, with the group filing a lawsuit in 2021 on behalf of six east coast fishing businesses – collectively called<b> Nantucket Residents Against Turbines –</b> targeting a major windfarm currently under construction off the coast of Massachusetts. Slated to come online by the end of the year, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Vineyard Wind </span>will be the first major offshore wind project to be built off the US east coast.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The lawsuit claimed federal agencies did not sufficiently analyze how the project, which is set to deliver enough electricity to power 400,000 homes, would affect wildlife – specifically the endangered North Atlantic right whale – and thereby violated the Endangered Species Act and slew of other environmental policies.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Meghan Lapp, a seafood dealer and longtime offshore wind critic who was a plaintiff in the suit, told Reuters in 2021 that TPPF got involved in the suit at her request. As it announced its involvement in the case, the thinktank also took the unusual step of releasing a trailer called “A Heavy Wind”.</div><div>
</div><div><b>The case was ultimately unsuccessful after a federal judge dismissed it last month,</b> but the idea that wind turbines kill whales has been seized upon by conservatives, especially since December, when dozens of whales began washing up on the Atlantic coast in what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) calls an “unusual mortality event”.</div><div>
</div><div>Noaa has said there is no evidence that offshore wind power is killing off whales, with fishing practices, boat strikes and the climate crisis among the primary dangers to marine mammals, but congressional <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Republicans have called on the White House to pause offshore wind development, while Tucker Carlson, then of Fox News, aired a critical series of segments called “The Biden Whale Extinction”.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The assault on renewables by TPPF and its Republican allies has stunned conservatives who remain supportive of the longstanding bipartisan enthusiasm for clean energy.</span></div><div>
</div><div>The reversal has been particularly stark for Texas which, blessed with the capacious, flat terrain and amenable climate for abundant<b> wind and solar energy, was championed as a bastion for renewables by previous Republican governors George W Bush and Rick Perry,</b> even as they embraced the ubiquitous oil industry.</div><div>
</div><div><b>More than 40% of Texas’s electricity came from carbon-free sources last year,</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">with the state now producing more wind and solar than the next three states – California, Iowa and Oklahoma – combined. This imperious status now seems uncertain.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“I don’t recognize the state sometimes any more from our elected leaders. It’s like we are in a twilight zone where up is down and day is night,” said Matt Welch, state director of <b>Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation</b>.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I fear we’re losing our lead in the nation and the world as the source for clean energy advancement. It’s just amazing we’ve rolled up the welcome mat and told wind and solar operators they’re just not welcome here any more.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Texas Public Policy Foundation was founded in 1989 by James R Leininger, a San Antonio-based physician who made his fortune selling hospital beds, and initially focused on the issue of charter schools before branching out into other topics such as energy. The thinktank is a member of the<b> State Policy Network</b>, a network of far-right non-profits across the country that fight climate-focused legislation.</span></div><div>
</div><div>In 2021, the most recent year for which records are available, donations for the thinktank totaled $25.6m. Publicly available data shows that – like many State Policy Network affiliates – its largest known funder is<b> Charles Koch</b>, the billionaire industrialist who made his fortune from fossil fuels. Entities tied to Koch have contributed at least $8.8m to the group since 2012, according to an analysis by researcher Connor Gibson.</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Tax filings show that the group has received donations from fossil fuel companies including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, but, as a non-profit, the full extent of TPPF’s fossil fuel funding is unknown.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Issac said, however, it has been “many years” since large oil firms such as Exxon have donated to TPPF as these companies now ostensibly support decarbonization and environmentally responsible corporate governance, which conflicts with the foundation. He insisted that the foundation is <b>committed to “free enterprise and individual liberty” and the eradication of “market distorting” subsidies, not just for renewables but also fossil fuels.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">But Welch said that Republican lawmakers, backed by TPPF, have ditched any ideological consistency by heaping onerous restrictions on renewable energy development on private property, in some cases attempting to impose requirements absent from oil and gas drilling, and trying to slash subsidies for the industry at the same time as offering state support for the buildout of new gas plants.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One proposed bill that didn’t get sufficient backing in the latest Texas legislative session would have placed stringent new rules for wind and solar projects, including written permissions from neighboring property owners and setbacks of up to half a mile from the edge of a property for wind turbines. Another would have cut all subsidies for renewable energy</span>.</div><div>
</div><div>“On a Tuesday these lawmakers will be adamantly for private property rights, but on a Thursday they will want to stop the growth of renewable energy even though it’s on somebody’s private land,” Welch said, adding that<b> TPPF was once full of “mini Milton Friedmans for years until recently, and now all of a sudden they throw that out the window.</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“It’s been a shocker. It’s so hypocritical,” he said. “I used to be an acolyte of TPPF but they are now driven by oil and gas billionaires who want to stop alternative forms of energy to benefit their own bottom line. They’ve sold their soul to the almighty dollar.</span>”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Renewable energy remains broadly popular with the Texas public for delivering cheap, clean power along with an injection of cash for entities such as school districts, but affection has somewhat curdled among some of the state’s Republican leadership. A devastating winter storm in 2021, which left millions of Texans without power and led to several hundred deaths, was a major accelerant of this trend.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the days following the crippling event, known as winter storm Uri, Abbott and other leading Republicans pushed the blame for the power blackouts upon renewable energy, with misleading pictures of frozen wind turbines from Europe quickly circulating social media as the supposed cause of the grid’s breakdow</span>n.</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Subsequent studies have made clear the primary cause of the blackouts were frozen gas pipelines and a lack of infrastructure resiliency to extreme weather, rather than renewables per se, but the perception of faulty wind and solar has stuck, eagerly fanned by TPPF.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I still believe [renewables] deserve a lot of the blame,” said Isaac. “The storm was helpful in educating people who just assumed when they flip a switch the lights come on that there are issues with grid reliability, that <b>solar panels covered in snow don’t produce electricity.”</b></span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Isaac said the foundation accepts that the climate is changing but disputes that this is harmful to people, </b>claiming that the benefits of burning of fossil fuels “far outweighs” any negatives, including deadly air pollution, which he asserts isn’t an issue for the US and its “<b>near natural” air quality.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Scientists have, in fact, found that the climate crisis poses huge and growing risks to humanity, with airborne pollutants from burning coal, oil and gas linked to an array of different health problems.</span></div><div>
</div><div>While the most severe of the anti-renewables bills pushed forward in Texas didn’t pass the legislature this year, Isaac said that TPPF remains undaunted and will continue to agitate against what he called <b>“the false panacea of variable power</b>”. Supporters of clean energy said they expect further battles ahead to prevent Texas’s progress in solar and wind from being unwound.</div><div>
</div><div>“With the growth trajectory of renewable energy, TPPF can either get on the train or lay down in front of the tracks,” said Welch. “I suspect they won’t rest on their laurels. They’re going to come for renewables again and again and again.”</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ercot fail</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/greg-abbott-emergency-measures-energy/">https://www.alternet.org/greg-abbott-emergency-measures-energy/</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12 22 ecowatch</font></div><div><h2 class="yiv5252243794null" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 32.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">arctic Air Brings Dangerous Cold to U.S., Could Test Texas Grid</font></h2><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 22.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A bomb cyclone of Arctic air is descending on the lower 48 states, bringing with it life-threatening extreme cold, heavy snow and rain, and blizzard conditions.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 22.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The National Weather Service office in Buffalo, NY — no stranger to extreme winter weather — described it as a “<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="blank" href="https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=3465bb23c9&e=c2e8fdabfa" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">once in a generation winter storm</a>.” The coldest temperatures in decades will send wind chills as low as -70°F in eastern Wyoming and the Eastern Seaboard will likely see its coldest Christmas <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="blank" href="https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=95e644bf46&e=c2e8fdabfa" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">since Taylor Swift was born</a>.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/28/texas-power-outage-wind/">https://www.texastribune.org<b>/2021/04</b>/28/texas-power-outage-wind/</a></div><div>WINTER STORM 2021</div><div><b>Wind power a smaller contributor to Texas electricity crisis than initially estimated, ERCOT analysis shows</b></div><div>An updated analysis of the Texas power crisis shows lost natural gas power generation was the most significant component of the February outages.</div><div>
</div><div>BY ERIN DOUGLAS APRIL 28, 2021</div><div>
</div><div><b>An updated analysis of February’s Texas power crisis by experts at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas shows that lost wind power generation was a small component of the huge losses in electric generation that plunged much of the state into darkness during the severe cold weather.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While Texas Republicans were quick to blame renewable energy during the storm — and have continued to target renewable energy for reform during this year’s legislative session — a recently updated report on the causes of generator outages during the week of Feb. 14 show that the most significant cause of the low power supply to the grid came from natural gas plants shutting down or reducing electricity production due to cold weather, equipment failures and natural gas shortages.</span></div><div>
</div><div>In ERCOT’s first preliminary report on the causes of the power crisis, released in early April, the grid operator included a chart that appeared to show power generation losses from wind as just slightly smaller than natural gas generation losses that week. But that analysis used the capacity of the state’s wind turbines to generate electricity, not what wind turbines would have actually generated if not for the outages.</div><div>
</div><div>Wind power feeds into the grid depending on weather conditions, and renewable energy sources typically have much higher potential to generate electricity than what is actually produced on a day-to-day basis; sometimes renewable power generates a lot and at other times none or very little. ERCOT uses detailed weather forecasts to estimate how much wind and solar power will be available to the grid.</div><div>
</div><div>In the updated analysis included in a Wednesday ERCOT meeting, the grid operator calculated that natural gas power losses were several times that of wind generation lost during the power crisis — for example, at 8 a.m. on Feb. 16, about <b>4,000 megawatts of wind were lost due to the storm, compared to 25,000 megawatts of natural gas, according to data provided by ERCOT.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">(First) In ERCOT’s first preliminary report on the causes of the power crisis, the grid operator included a chart that appeared to show power generation losses from wind as slightly smaller than natural gas generation losses. </span>(Last) But in an updated analysis using what would have been produced by wind and solar if the storm hadn't happened, rather than using the overall generating capacity of renewables, natural gas power losses were several times that of wind generation outages. Credit: Electric Reliability Council of Texas</div><div>More than 100 people died in the Texas power crisis, which could become the most expensive disaster in state history as the costs continue to be tallied.</div><div>
</div><div>The analysis also provided a more detailed picture of the reasons for natural gas outages, and showed disruptions in fuel supply to power plants were a bigger share of the outages than initially estimated. Fuel disruptions, mostly to natural gas plants, accounted for 18% of total outages at 8 a.m. Feb. 16, according to data provided by ERCOT — that's 6% more than what ERCOT initially reported.</div><div>
</div><div>Still, weather-related problems and equipment problems remained the biggest reasons for natural gas plant outages. Overall, weather-related problems among all power sources were responsible for 40% of the outages at 8 a.m. on Feb 16, according to ERCOT.</div><div>
</div><div>Natural gas fuel and transportation companies have recently posted huge profits in the aftermath of the Texas power crisis. Kinder Morgan, one of Texas’ largest pipeline companies, made more than $1 billion on the power crisis, mostly as a result of voluntarily cutting power back and selling gas at inflated prices, Bloomberg first reported.</div><div>
</div><div>Meanwhile, companies in the power sector have faced big losses in the aftermath of the storm. Vistra Corp. said it lost more than $1 billion during the crisis; the power giant primarily blamed the losses on high natural gas prices for plants, reporting that it spent more than twice what it usually spends in a year on natural gas during the week of the storm.</div><div>
</div><div>The big financial losers and winners since February have sparked a financial crisis in Texas’ electricity market that lawmakers have struggled to contend with; rescue bills to prevent companies from shuttering generation and staving off pass-through costs to customers are expected to be taken up by the Texas House on Monday.</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8 22 tx weekly</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/02/texas-high-plains-wind-energy/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Why the Texas grid causes the High Plains to turn off its wind turbines</a>" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LUBBOCK — The state’s High Plains region, which covers 41 counties in the Texas Panhandle and West Texas, is home to more than 11,000 wind turbines — the most in any area of the state.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The region could generate enough wind energy to power at least 9 million homes. Experts say the additional energy could help provide much-needed stability to the electric grid during high energy-demand summers like this one, and even lower the power bills of Texans in other parts of the state.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But a significant portion of the electricity produced in the High Plains stays there for a simple reason: It can’t be moved elsewhere. Despite the growing development of wind energy production in Texas, the state’s transmission network would need significant infrastructure upgrades to ship out the energy produced in the region.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’re at a moment when wind is at its peak production profile, but we see a lot of wind energy being curtailed or congested and not able to flow through to some of the higher-population areas,” said John Hensley, vice president for research and analytics at the American Clean Power Association. “Which is a loss for ratepayers and a loss for those energy consumers that now have to either face conserving energy or paying more for the energy they do use because they don’t have access to that lower-cost wind resource.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And when the rest of the state is asked to conserve energy to help stabilize the grid, the High Plains has to turn off turbines to limit wind production it doesn’t need.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Because there’s not enough transmission to move it where it’s needed, ERCOT has to throttle back the [wind] generators,” energy lawyer Michael Jewell said. “They actually tell the wind generators to stop generating electricity. It gets to the point where [wind farm operators] literally have to disengage the generators entirely and stop them from doing anything.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texans have already had a few energy scares this year amid scorching temperatures and high energy demand to keep homes cool. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state’s electrical grid, warned about drops in energy production twice last month and <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/13/texas-power-grid-ercot-conservation/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">asked people across the state to lower their consumption</a> to avoid an electricity emergency.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The energy supply issues have hit Texans’ wallets as well. Nearly half of Texas’ electricity is generated at power plants that run on the state’s most dominant energy source, natural gas, and its price has <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/05/texas-energy-bills-natural-gas-export/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">increased more than 200% since late February</a>, causing elevated home utility bills.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Meanwhile, wind farms across the state account for nearly 21% of the state’s power generation. Combined with wind production near the Gulf of Mexico, Texas produced more than one-fourth of the nation’s wind-powered electric generation last year.</b></font></p><div data-frame-sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation allow-popups" data-frame-src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9Cy1V/" data-frame-auto-initialized="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Wind energy is one of the lowest-priced energy sources</a> because it is sold at fixed prices, turbines do not need fuel to run and the federal government provides subsidie</b>s. Texans who get their energy from wind farms in the High Plains region usually pay less for electricity than people in other areas of the state. But with the price of natural gas increasing from inflation, Jewell said areas where wind energy is not accessible have to depend on electricity that costs more.</font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Other generation resources are more expensive than what [customers] would have gotten from the wind generators if they could move it,” Jewell said. “That is the definition of transmission congestion. Because you can’t move the cheaper electricity through the grid.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A 2021 ERCOT <a href="https://pubs.naruc.org/pub/A26CE2F0-1866-DAAC-99FB-401C6A012A98" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">report</a> shows there have been increases in stability constraints for wind energy in recent years in both West and South Texas that have limited the long-distance transfer of power.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The transmission constraints are such that energy can’t make it to the load centers. [High Plains wind power] might be able to make it to Lubbock, but it may not be able to make it to Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston or Austin,” Jewell said. “This is not an insignificant problem — it is costing Texans a lot of money.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some wind farms in the High Plains foresaw there would be a need for transmission. The Trent Wind Farm was one of the first in the region. Beginning operations in 2001, the wind farm is between Abilene and Sweetwater in West Texas and has about 100 wind turbines, which can supply power to 35,000 homes. Energy company American Electric Power built the site near a power transmission network and built a short transmission line, so the power generated there does go into the ERCOT system.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Jewell said high energy demand and costs this summer show there’s a need to build additional transmission lines to move more wind energy produced in the High Plains to other areas of the state.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jewell said the Public Utility Commission, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/15/texas-power-grid-winter-storm-2021/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">which oversees the grid,</a> is conducting tests to determine the economic benefits of adding transmission lines from the High Plains to the more than 52,000 miles of lines that already connect to the grid across the state. As of now, however, there is no official proposal to build new lines.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It does take a lot of time to figure it out — you’re talking about a transmission line that’s going to be in service for 40 or 50 years, and it’s going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars,” Jewell said. “You want to be sure that the savings outweigh the costs, so it is a longer process. But we need more transmission in order to be able to move more energy. This state is growing by leaps and bounds.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A <a href="https://www.texasce.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Reliability-Resilience-in-the-Balance-REPORT.pdf" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">report</a> by the American Society of Civil Engineers released after the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/series/winter-storm-power-outage/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">February 2021 winter storm</a> stated that Texas has substantial and growing reliability and resilience problems with its electric system.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The report concluded that “the failures that caused overwhelming human and economic suffering during February will increase in frequency and duration due to legacy market design shortcomings, growing infrastructure interdependence, economic and population growth drivers, and aging equipment even if the frequency and severity of weather events remains unchanged.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The report also stated that while transmission upgrades across the state have generally been made in a timely manner, it’s been challenging to add infrastructure where there has been rapid growth, like in the High Plains.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Despite some <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/19/texas-renewable-energy-oil-gas/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Texas lawmakers’ vocal opposition</a> against wind and other forms of renewable energy, the state has prime real estate for harnessing wind power because of its open plains, and farmers can put turbines on their land for financial relief.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This has led to a boom in wind farms, even with transmission issues. Since 2010, <a href="https://twitter.com/joshdr83/status/1349153819066826755" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">wind energy generation in Texas has increased by 15%</a>. This month, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/22/texas-gulf-of-mexico-wind-farm/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the Biden administration announced</a> the Gulf of Mexico’s first offshore wind farms will be developed off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana and will produce enough energy to power around 3 million homes.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Texas really does sort of stand head and shoulders above all other states when it comes to the actual amount of wind, solar and battery storage projects that are on the system,” Hensley said.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the issues often brought up with wind and solar farms is that they may not be able to produce as much energy as the state needs all of the time. Earlier this month, when ERCOT asked consumers to conserve electricity, the agency listed <a href="https://www.ercot.com/news/release?id=f91df9ae-7a4d-5148-36b1-d7bd1f0f5bb4" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">low wind generation and cloud coverage in West Texas as factors contributing to a tight energy supply</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hensley said this is where battery storage stations can help. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, utility-scale batteries tripled in capacity in 2021 and can now store up to 4.6 gigawatts of energy. Texas has been quickly developing storage projects. In 2011, Texas had only 5 megawatts of battery storage capacity; by 2020, that had ballooned to 323.1 megawatts.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Storage is the real game-changer because it can really help to mediate and control a lot of the intermittency issues that a lot of folks worry about when they think about wind and solar technology,” Hensley said. “So being able to capture a lot of that solar that comes right around noon to [1 p.m.] and move it to those evening periods when demand is at its highest, or even move strong wind resources from overnight to the early morning or afternoon hours.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Storage technology can help, but Hensley said transmission is still the big factor to consider.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Solar is another resource that could help stabilize the grid. </b>According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Texas has about 13,947 megawatts of solar installed and more than 161,000 installations. That’s enough to power more than 1.6 million homes.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This month, the PUC formed a task force to develop a pilot program next year that would create a pathway for solar panels and batteries on small-scale systems, like homes and businesses, to add that energy to the grid. The program would make solar and batteries more accessible and affordable for customers, and it would pay customers to share their stored energy to the grid as well.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hensley said Texas has the most clean-energy projects in the works that will likely continue to put the region above the rest when it comes to wind generation.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“So they’re already ahead, and it looks like they’re going to be even farther ahead six months or a year down the road,” he said.</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/greg-abbott/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/greg-abbott/</a>
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">req vol cutbacks, gov silent
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 6 22</font></font></font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Renewable sources of energy are "bailing out" the Texas power grid as early summer temperatures spike and demand surges,</b> CNN reported on Tuesday.</font></font></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The boost has prevented a recurrence of the blackouts which plagued Texas during the winter months of 2021 when electricity usage exploded, overwhelming providers and transmission networks.
</font></font></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Several experts told CNN that it's owed in large part to strong performances from wind and solar, which generated 27 gigawatts of electricity during Sunday's peak demand -- <a href="https://twitter.com/douglewinenergy/status/1536110319394869248" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">close to 40%</a> of the total needed," the outlet said.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>CNN noted that while Republicans in the politically crimson Lone Star State have been reliably outspoken about their opposition to sustainable sources such as wind and solar, Texas "has a massive and growing fleet of renewables. Zero-carbon electricity sources (wind, solar, and nuclear) powered about <a href="https://twitter.com/joshdr83/status/1534199225994682369" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">38% of the state's power in 2021</a>, rivaling natural gas at 42%."</b>
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Michael Webber, an energy expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, explained that "Texas is, by rhetoric, anti-renewables. But frankly, renewables are bailing us out. They're rocking. That really spares us a lot of heartache and a lot of money."</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps somewhat ironically, CNN pointed out, "Texas generates the most wind energy in the country: In 2020, it produced more wind electricity than Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma — the next three highest states — combined, according to the US Energy Information Administration."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Solar, meanwhile, is viewed as an invaluable power source during the summer due to there being less wind and because "there's a good chance the sun is beating down," experts told CN</b>N.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joshua Rhodes, an energy researcher at the University of Texas in Austin, confirmed that <b>renewables "are acting as a hedge against high fuel prices.</b>" He added, however, that "about half of the solar that could be produced is not being produced right now because there's no more room on the lines. T<b>he numbers for renewables would probably be higher if we had the transmission capacity to move them around."</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Renewables have driven down prices because they are generated naturally, unlike fossil fuels, which require massive industrial refinement operations and energy-intensive efforts to be delivered to consumers. Oil and natural gas are also finite resources, a fact that has contributed to the increased costs of fuel worldwide.</font></font></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet even with their much-needed cushioning, renewables are not a complete fail-safe against future collapses of the power grid.<b> Texas is currently experiencing sweltering heat that normally arrives in August, causing people to crank up their air conditioners earlier in the season than in previous years. </b>And engineers are facing additional challenges, like designing batteries that can store enough electricity to sustain communities when sunlight and wind are not immediately available.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the biggest variable by far is climate change, which scientists have for decades warned will get catastrophically worse unless humanity's addiction to fossil fuels is curbed. More than 107 million Americans are experiencing record-shattering heat in the waning weeks of spring.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Andy Dessler,</b> the director of the Texas Center for Climate Studies at Texas A&M University, stressed to CNN that "everything's getting hotter. August is getting hotter; June is getting hotter. It is hot and this is the future."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/14/us/texas-energy-record-solar-wind-climate/index.html" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">CNN's full report is available here</a>.</font></font></font></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/facebook-investors/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/facebook-investors/</a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Facebook misled investors about battling climate and COVID lies: SEC filings</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>Jessica Corbett and Common Dreams February 20, 2022</div><div> </div><div>In complaints to the U.S. government, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen accused the tech giant of misleading investors about combating climate and Covid-19 misinformation, The Washington Post revealed Friday.</div><div>
</div><div>Haugen has gained international attention for speaking out in the press and testifying to Congress. The former Facebook employee is represented by Whistleblower Aid, which filed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaints earlier this month.</div><div>
</div><div>The newspaper's reporting on redacted copies of the documents sparked demands for reforms at the social media network and its parent company, which rebranded as Meta last year in the face of widespread criticism.</div><div>
</div><div><b>"Frances Haugen's SEC filing shows yet again that Facebook cannot be trusted and needs Congress to step in to stop the spread of disinformation," said Michael Khoo, co-chair of the Climate Disinformation Coalition at Friends of the E</b>arth.</div><div>
</div><div>As the Post's Cat Zakrzewski reported:</div><div>
</div><div>One complaint alleges that climate change misinformation was prominently available on Facebook and that the company lacked a clear policy on the issue as recently as last year, despite Facebook executives' committing to fight the "global crisis" during earnings calls. <b>A second, companion complaint argues that while Facebook executives were publicly touting their efforts to remove harmful Covid misinformation, internal documents "paint a different story." </b></div><div>
</div><div>The complaint cites internal company communications about the spread of vaccine hesitancy in comments and internal surveys that showed the proliferation of Covid misinformation on the service.</div><div><b>"Facebook appears now to be spreading disinformation about its disinformation," </b>declared Khoo, noting that in an October 2021 letter, Nick Clegg, then-vice president of global affairs and communications at Facebook, "told the Climate Disinformation Coalition that there is only a 'small amount' of climate change disinformation on the platform."</div><div>
</div><div>Clegg, who was previously the U.K.'s deputy prime minister and led the Liberal Democrats party, was promoted this week to head of global affairs at Meta—a role that will put him "at the level" of CEO Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.</div><div>
</div><div>Similar to Clegg's letter, Meta spokesperson Drew Pusateri "said that misinformation makes up a small amount of climate change content in the company's apps, and that it spikes periodically, such as during extreme weather events," the Post reported Friday. "He said the company has taken steps to make it easier for fact-checkers to find climate content."</div><div>
</div><div>Pusateri also highlighted the company's efforts to remove vaccine misinformation and elevate "authoritative information" on public health and climate, adding that "there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to stopping the spread of misinformation, but we're committed to building new tools and policies to combat it."</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">However, activists and experts are not impressed. The Post explained that "the company adds information labels to some posts about climate change, and it reduces distribution of posts that its fact-checking partners rate as false. But it generally does not remove those posts, as it does with certain false claims about vaccines and the coronavirus."</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, told the newspaper that the company's approach is "disturbing."</b></div><div>
</div><div>"Unmitigated climate change is projected to lead to far greater numbers of human fatalities than Covid-19," said Mann, known for debunking climate lies, including in recent testimony to Congress. "The fact that they're treating greater threat with so much less urgency and care is problematic."</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn tweeted Friday that "Facebook hasn't even taken the most obvious step to combatting climate disinformation: banning fossil fuel advertising. They don't allow tobacco or firearms ads—so why allow fossil fuels?"</span></div><div>
</div><div>According to Khoo at Friends of the Earth:</div><div>
</div><div><b>Whether it's fueling the insurrection, trans-youth bullying, teen body image issues, or climate denial, Facebook's algorithm enables the small fringe to tear apart our communities and our values</b>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">When last year's winter storm decimated Texas residents, <b>a few fossil fuel-backed voices falsely blamed frozen windmills, </b>and we documented how that narrative exploded on Facebook.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Congress must now step in and require the type of safety reporting that is found in industries from car manufacturers to agriculture. It must force Facebook to disclose its data on platform safety and extremism, with ecosystem-wide reports on disinformation harms.</div><div>"Facebook amplifies fringe views like climate denial," the campaigner added, "and we must stop it from letting a radical minority overpower the majority."</div><div>
</div><div>At least some federal lawmakers are already paying attention to the company's conduct, as three Democratic senators made clear in a December letter to Zuckerberg.</div><div>
</div><div>"Disinformation that downplays the crisis or rejects climate change threatens the potential for humankind to act collectively to pull itself back from the brink," they wrote. "Your content moderation decisions can either galvanize an effort to save our plant or quash it."</div></div><div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/texas-power-outage/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/texas-power-outage/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fail 70k ppl</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/painful-memories-of-the-2021-power-crisis-return-as-texans-prepares-for-the-coldest-weather-of-the-season/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/painful-memories-of-the-2021-power-crisis-return-as-texans-prepares-for-the-coldest-weather-of-the-season/</a></font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/abbott-2656224077/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/abbott-2656224077/</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ercot fail 2x?</font></p><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ercot ~ foia, just failed no one knows why? 621 an</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/ercot-2653531499/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/ercot-2653531499/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; line-height: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate deniers are going all in with disinfo for COP26 (Sorry, Teslas really do produce fewer emissions)</font></h1><ul class="meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box;">TAGGED</span><strong style="text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box;">: </strong><a href="http://redgreenandblue.org/tag/cop26/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box;">COP26</a><span style="text-transform: uppercase;">,</span><span style="text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><a href="http://redgreenandblue.org/tag/denial/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box;">DENIAL</a><span style="text-transform: uppercase;">,</span><span style="text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><a href="http://redgreenandblue.org/tag/tesla/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box;">TESLA</a> October 27th, 2021</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li></ul><div class="entry" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="http://redgreenandblue.org/2021/10/27/climate-deniers-going-disinfo-cop26-sorry-teslas-really-produce-fewer-emissions/" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the world gears up for the COP26 climate negotiations in Glasgow next week, deniers are already laying the groundwork for the disinformation they’ll peddle in a hopefully-vain attempt to recreate their success in using Climategate disinformation to disrupt the Copenhagen COP.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
While every year brings a new and exciting display of denial, a few recent stories stand out as top candidates for the fossil fueled opposition to latch onto when confronted with the possibility that letting polluters profit our planet to death is a bad idea.By Climate Denier Roundup</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though we can expect some totally-unhinged and <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterDClack/status/1452169012171796480" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">unsubstantiated claims about banning beef,</u></a> one of the biggest recurring arguments is also one of the most misleading, that the Texas blackouts offer a warning of what climate policies will make common.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example<b>, Sean Spicer,</b> who hasn’t quite danced his Trump-stained reputation clean yet, has a new book out, and the<b> Koch-funded RealClear <a href="https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/10/22/the_green_raw_deal_800215.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">ran an excerpt</u></a></b>. It opens with a heart-tugging story about a 12 year old who died of hypothermia, and then quickly exploits the child’s death to score cheap, and completely false, political points.<b> The 80+ deaths “were caused by political decisions,” Spicer writes, and “the tragedy of the Texas blackout was partially the result of the growth of the green energy industry.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the majority of the <a title="" href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Which-energy-source-was-to-blame-for-the-Texas-16485932.php" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">responsibility for the blackouts</u></a> can be laid at the fossil fuel industry’s failure to do the one thing it claims it does best: <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Be reliable....</strong></font></p></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div>