A number of Texas government entities have declined to release information regarding the events that led to the massive statewide blackouts during the historic winter storm in February, according to a press report.
This refusal to provide certain information has raised transparency concerns among nonprofit organizations such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Policy Director James Quintero, who moderated a panel on government transparency March 18, said residents shouldn't be left without answers.
"Being able to access public information is critical to achieving accountability, which, in turn, promotes trust in government," Quintero told Lone Star Standard. "Without transparency, confidence in our institutions will wane. Texans shouldn’t be kept in the dark about why we ended up in the dark."
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is one of the oversight agencies that has declined to release information surrounding February's blackouts, along with the Public Utility Commission and Gov. Greg Abbott's office.
Although some information regarding the blackouts has been released, the majority remains restricted to public access. According to the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, many government offices have not responded to open records requests, alleging that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to either work with a skeleton crew or close their offices completely.
"Pandemic-era policies have eroded public trust and stirred a crisis of confidence," Quintero said. "This legislative session, state lawmakers should reverse course and restore transparency to Texas governments."
According to Quintero, the first step to make these changes is for residents to encourage their leaders to "make open government laws a priority this session."
"Government is the servant, not the master," he said. "Texas’ transparency laws need to be updated to better reflect this absolute and to more closely resemble the spirit of the Public Information Act’s preamble, which states: 'The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.' The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”
Additionally, many private businesses that distribute energy on the grid, including ExxonMobil, Calpine Corp and Vista Corp., have consulted with legal counsel in an effort to hide documents that touch on their businesses, the Austin Statesman reported.
Following the winter storm blackout, many Texas residents also faced thousands of dollars worth of energy bills after ERCOT raised wholesale prices to $9,000 per megawatt-hour. Abbott has since asked the state House and Senate to consider emergency legislation that would forgive nearly $16 billion in increased energy bills.
Energy grid providers also reportedly tried to cast blame on the energy grid failure on frozen wind turbines.
This came came as no surprise to Energy Alliance Policy Director Bill Peacock, who told Lone Star Standard that "environmental policies pushing for renewable energy have kept the Texas grid from providing reliable power." Peacock is not alone in this sentiment, as other critics of wind energy say this recent failure leaves the future of the wind energy industry in the state uncertain.
Wind energy, according to Statista, provides only 23% of Texas' energy needs, compared with 46% from natural gas.
