{"id":179767,"date":"2021-02-22T12:01:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T12:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=179767"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:06:19","slug":"fossil-fuel-apologists-crafted-lies-now-heard-on-fox-blaming-wind-power-for-texas-blackouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/02\/fossil-fuel-apologists-crafted-lies-now-heard-on-fox-blaming-wind-power-for-texas-blackouts\/","title":{"rendered":"Fossil Fuel Apologists Crafted Lies Now Heard on Fox, Blaming Wind Power for Texas Blackouts"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<p class=\"Excerpt\" data-reactid=\"156\"><em>Republicans failed to ensure that the Texas power grid could withstand a cold snap, so the party\u2019s broadcast arm recycled lies about wind energy to deflect blame on to Democrats.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_179768\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/texas-power-station-usa-enegy.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-179768\" class=\"wp-image-179768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/texas-power-station-usa-enegy-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/texas-power-station-usa-enegy-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/texas-power-station-usa-enegy-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/texas-power-station-usa-enegy-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/texas-power-station-usa-enegy.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-179768\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A power station in Odessa, Texas, where electricity was cut to many homes and businesses this week. Photo: Jacob Ford\/Odessa American, via AP<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>17 Feb 2021 &#8211; <\/em>Millions of Texans, trying to survive a winter storm without heat or electricity following the catastrophic failure of the state\u2019s power grid, were at least spared immediate exposure to the torrent of lies about what went wrong in their state being pumped out by Fox News.<\/p>\n<div data-reactid=\"224\">\n<p>As the widespread blackouts continued, so too did the all-out campaign of lying on behalf of the fossil fuel industry from Fox News hosts and Republican elected officials in Texas, who repeated the false claim that frozen wind turbines were to blame, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LisPower1\/status\/1361750977729212422\" >hour<\/a> after <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LisPower1\/status\/1361711837193113603\" >hour<\/a>, even though wind energy is expected to power <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2021\/02\/16\/texas-wind-turbines-frozen\/\" >just 7 percent<\/a> of the state\u2019s grid in winter.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of one report from Texas on Tuesday,\u00a0Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner interjected, falsely, that \u201cmillions of Americans, in the cold and dark, say the lack of power is because of green energy policies and the vilification of oil, gas, and coal\u00a0\u2014 the stuff that really keeps you warm.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here&#39;s what Fox News is for: having a trusted voice of authority repeat talking points developed in advance of the crisis in Texas by fossil fuel lobbyists and passing them off as just good common sense (via <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LisPower1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@LisPower1<\/a>) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eoSYqxJbAh\" >pic.twitter.com\/eoSYqxJbAh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertMackey\/status\/1362164139200684033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >February 17, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-reactid=\"227\">\n<p>Later that night, Tucker Carlson began his show with the preposterous lie that, \u201cunbeknownst to most people, the Green New Deal came to Texas. The power grid in the state became totally reliant on windmills. Then it got cold and the windmills broke.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201ctotally reliant on windmills\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xIfQPg0IlB\" >pic.twitter.com\/xIfQPg0IlB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Acyn (@Acyn) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Acyn\/status\/1361847765387546629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >February 17, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-reactid=\"230\">\n<p>That\u2019s not remotely true of energy policy in a state entirely controlled by Republican elected officials in thrall to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/earther.gizmodo.com\/how-much-the-oil-and-gas-industry-paid-texas-republican-1846288505\" >the financial support of the fossil fuel industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, Carlson had just warned viewers\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/IBeMjyo2Wwk?t=93\" >at the start of his show<\/a>\u00a0that some figures in the news media are \u201cprofoundly dishonest.\u201d (\u201cImagine if lying was your job,\u201d he said with a straight face. \u201cImagine forcing yourself to tell lies all day about everything in ways that were so transparent and so outlandish that there is no way that people listening to you could possibly believe anything you said. Then imagine doing that again and again, and again, every day of your professional life for your entire life.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>In fact, despite what Faulkner and Carlson and Texas Republicans like Rep. Dan Crenshaw claimed, the drop in energy produced by wind was the least significant factor in the Texas blackouts, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ctraywick\/status\/1361715146176024578\" >according to Dan Woodfin<\/a>, senior director of system operations at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, the organization that manages the state\u2019s power supply. Frozen instruments at thermal power plants, which burn natural gas or coal or rely on nuclear reactors, erased nearly half of the power needed to keep the lights on, according to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JesseJenkins\/status\/1362062037275279363\" >a detailed analysis<\/a> of the grid operator\u2019s data by Jesse Jenkins, a macro-scale energy systems engineer who teaches at Princeton.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-reactid=\"241\">\n<p>As Jenkins <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JesseJenkins\/status\/1361695198774968323\" >explained on Twitter<\/a>, even though wind turbines were operating at about two-thirds of their capacity, wind was expected to provide less than 10 percent of the energy needed to power the state\u2019s grid during the peak of a winter storm, while natural gas plants were supposed to provide <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JesseJenkins\/status\/1361695208572919813\" >66 percent of the power<\/a>. \u201cThose of you who have heard that frozen wind turbines are to blame for this, think again,\u201d the engineer <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JesseJenkins\/status\/1361698545649258502\" >added<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTexans were counting on natural gas and coal plants to be there when they needed them,\u201d Jenkins <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JesseJenkins\/status\/1362134574160093188\" >observed<\/a>. \u201cOnly 50-60% of that capacity has been able to produce during the past three days. If a student in my course got a &lt;60% on the midterm, we\u2019d call it an F. Fossil generators deserve an F here too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe failure to plan for and weatherize against this extreme cold,\u201d Jenkins <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JesseJenkins\/status\/1361785508330942475\" >wrote<\/a> earlier in the week, \u201cextends from the grid operator (ERCOT), individual power plant owners of almost all types (gas, coal, nuclear, wind), pipeline utilities (which froze up) and even building design and construction practices (limited insulation for cold weather) which makes Texas gas and electricity demand extremely sensitive to cold weather events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ed Hirs, who teaches energy economics at the University of Houston, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/business\/energy\/article\/Wholesale-power-prices-spiking-across-Texas-15951684.php\" >told the Houston Chronicle<\/a> that the underlying cause of the failure was the state\u2019s deregulated power grid, which offers no incentives to power plant operators to prepare for winter. \u201cThe ERCOT grid has collapsed in exactly the same manner as the old Soviet Union,\u201d Hirs said. \u201cIt limped along on underinvestment and neglect until it finally broke under predictable circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Texas Democrat and former\u00a0presidential candidate Beto O\u2019Rourke <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/allinwithchris\/status\/1361848519129194496\" >argued on MSNBC<\/a> on Tuesday that the state\u2019s elected Republican leaders have been so obsessed with \u201cstupid culture battles\u201d instead of governing that they failed to require Texas power companies to insulate their equipment, so that natural gas plants and wind turbines that function perfectly well in far colder climates are not knocked offline by cold weather there.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Illinois is full of wind turbines and they work fine in the snow an ice, Dan. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aac3rkwiSr\" >https:\/\/t.co\/aac3rkwiSr<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tKW3Md9YLt\" >pic.twitter.com\/tKW3Md9YLt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; gretna gerwig (@mexicaneaux) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mexicaneaux\/status\/1361818741772869640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >February 16, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-reactid=\"244\">\n<p>Texas Gov. Greg Abbott proved O\u2019Rourke right an hour later by taking time away from actually dealing with the crisis that had plunged over 4 million Texans into the cold and the dark to lie about it to viewers of Sean Hannity\u2019s Fox News program.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Texas Gov. Abbott blames solar and wind for the blackouts in his state and says &quot;this shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America&quot; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YfVwa3YRZQ\" >pic.twitter.com\/YfVwa3YRZQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ndrew_lawrence\/status\/1361866553998909442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >February 17, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-reactid=\"247\">\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not against wind turbines, but my question is,\u201d Hannity asked Abbott, teeing him up to blame renewable energy sources, \u201cif you have these rolling blackouts, and you\u2019ve got freezing weather and they\u2019re not reliable \u2026 what good is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America,\u201d Abbott replied, in what was obviously a pre-scripted talking point. \u201cOur wind and our solar got shut down, and they were collectively more than 10 percent of our power grid, and that thrust Texas into a situation where it was lacking power on a statewide basis,\u201d Abbott said, as if the much larger failures of the gas plants hadn\u2019t happened. \u201cIt just shows that fossil fuel is necessary,\u201d the governor concluded in words that could have been written by an industry lobbyist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe infrastructure failures in Texas are quite literally what happens when you *don\u2019t*\u00a0pursue a Green New Deal,\u201d Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat who introduced the legislation to develop renewable energy <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AOC\/status\/1361903282667589634\" >responded<\/a> on Twitter. \u201cWeak on sweeping next-gen public infrastructure investments, little focus on equity so communities are left behind, climate deniers in leadership so they don\u2019t long prep for disaster,\u201d she added. \u201cWe need to help people *now.*\u00a0Long-term we must realize these are the consequences of inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lies about wind turbines repeated by Abbott, Hannity, and Carlson did not materialize out of thin air.<\/p>\n<p>Paid apologists for the fossil fuel industry have worked for years to promote the false claim that clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar are just not reliable enough to provide electricity during severe weather events.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Epstein, an energy industry communications consultant who develops talking points to help clients promote the burning of fossil fuels, suggested this week that oil and gas industry boosters <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/energytalkingpoints.com\/texas-electricity-crisis\/\" >should say<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cThe root cause of the Texas blackouts is a national and state policy that has prioritized the adoption of unreliable wind\/solar energy over reliable energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his book, \u201cThe Moral Case for Fossil Fuels,\u201d Epstein repeatedly refers to wind and solar power as \u201cunreliable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/02\/17\/fox-news-boosts-republican-lie-that-frozen-wind-turbines-caused-texas-blackouts\/?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter\" >TO CONTINUE READING Go to Original &#8211; theintercept.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>17 Feb 2021 &#8211; Republicans failed to ensure that the Texas power grid could withstand a cold snap, so the party\u2019s broadcast arm recycled lies about wind energy to deflect blame on to Democrats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":179768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[867,232,686,2279,1014,401,1098,993,70],"class_list":["post-179767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight","tag-anglo-america","tag-capitalism","tag-climate-change","tag-electric-energy","tag-energy","tag-environment","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-global-warming","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284729,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179767\/revisions\/284729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}