Feds Make New Recommendations To Texas To Prevent Deadly Power Outages From Happening Again

CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

September 24, 2021

The heads of two federal agencies that investigated the deadly power outages in Texas said it was a wake-up call for everyone.

On Thursday, Sept. 23, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) made a number of recommendations to prevent the outages from happening again. The Department of State Health Services said 210 people in Texas died in February after numerous power plants failed because of bitter cold temperatures or they couldn’t access fuel to operate. Wind turbines also froze.

Earlier this year, the Texas legislature passed laws to address the issues, including requiring power generation plant operators to winterize their facilities. But Richard Glick, Chair of FERC told reporters Thursday, “Essentially the requirements in Texas that were implemented recently were to have a plan, a plan of action for winterization, which is very important, but not specific elements, what specific actions should be taken to ensure those generation facilities are sufficiently weatherized.”

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