Going days without power is a sacrifice Texans are willing to make if it means preventing federal regulators from controlling the state’s power grid, suggested Rick Perry, who was energy secretary under President Donald Trump.
In a blog posted on House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy's website, Perry responds to the claim that “those watching on the left may see the situation in Texas as an opportunity to expand their top-down, radical proposals.”
Perry, who is also a former Texas governor, said “Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business. Try not to let whatever the crisis of the day is take your eye off of having a resilient grid that keeps America safe personally, economically, and strategically.”
Texas’s power grid is the only one in the U.S. that is not under the oversight of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission because it does not cross state lines, according to the Beaumont Enterprise.
Instead, it is run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT.
That system has fallen under scrutiny in recent days as millions of Texans are left without power following unusual cold weather, with both Democrats and Republicans in the state criticizing ERCOT.
Perry, however, blamed the rolling blackouts on the increase of wind and solar energy in Texas.
“If wind and solar is where we’re headed, the last 48 hours ought to give everybody a real pause and go wait a minute,” Perry said. “We need to have a baseload. And the only way you can get a baseload in this country is [with] natural gas, coal, and nuclear.”