Texas Blackouts Highlight Costs of Ignoring Resilience – Center for Security Policy
Why vote? Why should virtuous people give a veneer of legitimacy to thieves and cheats?
“ Governor Abbott was warned in 2015 by twenty-three members of the Texas Congressional Delegation that “the federal government has struggled to address the vulnerabilities of our critical infrastructure at the national level,” suggesting that Texas “adopt measures that maximize the resiliency of our electric grid against all hazards.”Again in 2018, members of the Texas Congressional Delegation wrote to Governor Abbott their “strong recommendation that action must be taken with the utmost urgency at the state level” to “help Texas lead by example by creating workable solutions to protect the electric grid from all hazards…”
The letter referenced promising legislation authored by Texas state Senator Bob Hall – legislation which in various forms ultimately passed in the Texas Senate in 2015, 2017, and 2019 – only to die in the Texas House, despite heroic efforts by Texas State Representative Tony Tinderholt and a few others.
Texans should be aware that while Senator Bob Hall and Representative Tindreholt were championing the concept of “Sustaining Economic Prosperity Through Resilient Energy Communities” through protecting the electric grid from all hazards, some of their colleagues were working exceptionally hard to limit the focus to only cyber and physical security of the grid.”
