Category: US Politics

Update (1234 ET): ERCOT officials have promised to restore some power generation today, but according to PowerOutage.US, around 1221 ET, there are more than 4.423 million customers without electricity in the state. That’s up 100k since 0900 ET.

Bloomberg’s Javier Blas tweets out he "doesn’t have good news" concerning the power grid collapse in the state.  

"The load on the ERCOT grid is right now nearly the lowest it has been since the blackouts started more than 36 hours ago. Load climbed a bit earlier (see chart, note GMT hours), but since has fallen, which indicates blackouts have spread again."

Meanwhile, some people without electricity are using outdoor propane heaters to heat their homes. 

Help me convince @terrencegordon this might not end well pic.twitter.com/6SMSXITnB6

— Chris Camillo (@ChrisCamillo) February 16, 2021

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Update (1208 ET): There are three major power grids in the Lower 48 states: the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection — and Texas Interconnection. 

The Texas grid is called ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas). It covers 90% of the state’s electric load except for El Paso and the upper Panhandle, and East Texas.

Local utilities under ERCOT have pledged not to sell their power to out-of-state customers. Texas grid’s independence dates back to World War II.

While there’s little pressure to integrate ERCOT into the national grid, that could all change with the latest wave of blackouts across the Lone Star State. 

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Update (1003 ET): Some Texans have been living in their cars to stay warm as rolling blackouts have left millions without power. 

CBS DFW spoke with at least one person who’s been sitting in his car since Sunday to get warm. 

Collin County resident Clint Cash has had no power in North Texas for a couple of days. He said his house went dark Sunday, which was when he decided to bundle up and sit in his parked car with the heater on full blast. 

Isha Elhence, a Dallas resident who lost power around 2 a.m. Monday, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying, "We lost power around 2 a.m. Monday. It was only supposed to be for one to two hours, which seemed manageable… Now it’s kind of indefinite with no updates, so we’re unsure of what we’re supposed to be doing."

  "This is extremely dangerous," said Eric Berger, a forecaster with Houston’s Space City Weather.

As the rolling blackouts increased across Texas, we noted Monday evening, internet searches for firewood exploded across the state. 

Internet searches for "where to buy firewood" erupted on Monday. 

Texas’ grid collapse has transformed the state into a third world country. 

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Update (0950 ET): With temperatures near zero this morning, GM decided to idle its massive Arlington Assembly plant due to "weather problems" for the second day. The facility sits on about 250 acres and employs approximately 5,480 people. 

There are no further updates on when the facility will reopen. Temperatures are expected to stay frigid until the end of the week. 

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Update (0915 ET): Oncor Electric Delivery, Texas’ largest transmission and electric distribution utility, tweeted:

"Due to ongoing record-low temps and generation, @ERCOT_ISO has continued to direct Oncor & utilities across TX to drop power load through maintained controlled outages. These controlled outages are occurring across the state and our entire service territory." 

Oncor also tweeted: 

"At this time, @ERCOT_ISO is unable to predict when grid conditions will stabilize. All customers are urged to be prepared for cont’ extended outages. Please also prioritize safety. Warming stations are available in many areas- check online or call 211 for more."

Temperatures across Texas this morning are absolutely frigid. 

At the moment, PowerOutage.US shows 4.307 million customers in Texas are without power.

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Update (0854 ET): Texas power grid operator ERCOT, which represents 90% of the state’s electric load, tweeted Tuesday morning that "generators to return, renewable output to increase = increased customer restoration." 

Bloomberg published a headline that said the grid operator expects all power to be back on Tuesday evening. 

"It’s a function of how many generations we are able to get back on line, especially gas and coal," Dan Woodfin, a senior director for the ERCOT, said in an interview. "It could be as early as early afternoon today. But then it is also possible it could go into the evening hours tonight."

However, Bloomberg’s Javier Blas said the grid is "still short of at least 18.5 GW." He said that equates to outages for at least 3 million homes. 

ERCOT confirms what I was calculating earlier: the grid is still short of at least 18.5 GW. That’s a staggering number, which equals probably to ~3 million homes, at the very least. This is ~36 hours into the rolling blackouts | #texaspoweroutage https://t.co/gnvMCNOuOB

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) February 16, 2021

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Update ( 0832 ET): The Southwest Power Pool (SSP), which manages the electric grid and wholesale power market for the central US, including Kansas, Oklahoma, portions of New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, and Nebraska, said Tuesday morning that blackouts would continue for a second day. 

Here’s what blackouts in Houston looked like overnight. 

This is Houston tonight. pic.twitter.com/bpsQNlVr0y

— Travis Herzog (@TravisABC13) February 16, 2021

Why are the ‘poor’ suburban areas dark while downtown is all lit up? 

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Four million Texans are without power Tuesday morning after a polar vortex split poured Arctic air into the region, collapsing the state’s power grid, forcing grid operators to impose rolling blackouts because of higher power demand. 

The PowerOutage.us website, which tracks power outages, said four million Texas customers were experiencing outages at 0630 ET Tuesday. 

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted that a weather-related death was reported Monday night. He said exposure to "extremely low temperatures" was the cause of death. 

Very sad about the death of a male subject in our city. Please seek shelter tonight. Temperature is already down to 20 degrees with windchill of 6 degrees. pic.twitter.com/5NSu8Wa155

— Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) February 16, 2021

Acevedo tweeted, "Please pray for our elderly and vulnerable populations tonight. With the 2nd consecutive night of massive power outages and frigid cold, many lives are at risk. State of Texas leaders must do better, lives depend on it." 

Refinitiv data shows Texas continues to deal with Arctic air, now stretching for the fifth day. 

Below-average Texas temperatures will likely clear out by the end of the weekend.

ERCOT wholesale electricity prices topped the grid’s price cap of $9,000 per megawatt-hour several times in the overnight session. Reminding readers, ERCOT prices are usually around $25/MWh. 

Meanwhile, rolling blackouts have set off a chain reaction of problems. RT News reports "some water treatment plants and cell phone networks" are offline. 

Several metro areas across central Texas warned of water issues. 

Due to a prolonged power outage at the water treatment plant, Pflugerville is under a boil water notice. We are working with Oncor to restore power, but until further notice, all city water customers must boil their water prior to consumption. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/alhpeSfyaN

— Pflugerville, TX (@PflugervilleTX) February 15, 2021

Cellular networks started to go offline as "backup generators at towers are freezing or running out of fuel or both," tweeted County Judge KP George.

Cell phone service is starting to break down over the region as back up generators at towers are freezing or running out of fuel or both.

Increasing outages will be possible overnight.

— County Judge KP George (@JudgeKPGeorge) February 16, 2021

Governor Greg Abbott wrote on Twitter that "Texas power grid has not been compromised." However, millions of Texans are unhappy with his response to the grid crisis that has sparked chaos across the state. He deployed National Guard troops to assist the state in relief efforts. 

Living in Texas sounds like a third-world country. Here’s a tweet from Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins: 

"The additional shed coupled with increased demand will likely increase blackout numbers and times. We should discuss how Texas let this happen. I understand your anger. I’m angry too. But tonight-right now- is about human and animal survival. Check on and help one another!" 

President Joe Biden declared an emergency on Monday for the Lone Star State, where temperatures in some areas hovered near zero. 

The freeze also took a toll on the state’s energy industry, the country’s largest crude refinery shuttered operations on Monday. Over the weekend, natural gas pipelines had restricted flow as wellheads froze. 

… and the worst might not be over as a second winter storm could batter the state by midweek. 

Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man

A bill introduced in the Nevada legislature, with the backing of the Governor, would allow tech companies to create new towns called “Innovation Zones.” The purpose of the zones is to provide flexibility to experiment with government, particularly related to integrating “innovative technologies.” These technologies can include blockchain, autonomous technology, the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence, wireless technology, biometrics, and renewable resources.

The zones would have to be created on at least 50,000 acres of currently unincorporated, unoccupied land, which is owned or purchased by the company. Also, prior to applying for the Innovation Zone status, company applicants are required to make a $250 million investment in the land. And the company must commit to spending another $1 billion over the following ten years.

What this means:

If the bill becomes law, this would give significant freedom for Innovation Zones to try new tax and fee systems for services at a local level. Nevada does not have a state income tax, which could allow these zones to form overall low-tax jurisdictions. It could also allow some experimentation with easing licensing requirements, since the legislation allows the zone to license businesses, but does not require it— although required state licensing would be unaffected.

Even policing and courts would fall under the responsibility of the zone, which would certainly be an interesting development, since innovations in these areas are few and far between.

Of course, the legislation has not even passed yet. And even if it does, it will be a long time before we see any actual Innovation Zones spring up.

Still, it’s an encouraging development to see state governments developing plans for “Special Economic Zone” type arrangements. These have been successful in bringing business, innovation, and wealth to areas which suspend typical taxes and regulations in favor of free market principles (China has had particular success with this strategy.)

As usual, the weak point comes down to federal taxes and regulations, which would remain unchanged in the zones.

But there are some states that have passed legislation claiming to supersede federal control over the state governments. And you can already find many of the freedoms you desire, just by wisely choosing your local and state governments.

What you can do about it:

Over the past year, it has largely been state and local governments elevating their public health officials to dictator status.

Local law enforcement have been the biggest perpetrators of civil asset forfeiture and overzealous policing. It’s the local schools which may or may not try to indoctrinate your child with the woke-Marxist Black Lives Matter curriculum we talked about last week.

But, on the other hand, it’s county Sheriffs who sometimes openly refuse to enforce what they see as unjust laws handed down by state and federal politicians.

You could improve your life significantly by sometimes only moving one town, county, or state away.

There are also some interesting legal and tax structures you can take advantage of at state levels.

For example, South Dakota law allows you to create self-settled trusts, a type of irrevocable trust that can provide asset protection from frivolous lawsuits, and reduce the amount of estate taxes owed upon death. South Dakota also has no state income or capital gains tax, meaning trust assets accumulate tax-free at the state level.

And finally, some states have taken steps to nullify the influence of the federal government in their jurisdictions.

For example, a bill recently introduced in the South Dakota legislature would nullify Presidential Executive Orders (EOs) if the state’s attorney general determines that the EOs violate the Constitution. Specifically, this would affect unconstitutional curbs on freedom related to COVID lockdowns, the right to keep and bear arms, and land use.

A Missouri bill intended to nullify federal gun laws recently passed in the state’s House of Representatives.

The Senate voted 23-8 to send the bill back to the House, where it passed earlier. The House can either accept the Senate’s changes or negotiate a compromise version. Senators voted for the bill along party lines with Republicans in support and Democrats in opposition. It would declare “null and void” any past, present or future federal law deemed to be an infringement on gun rights for law-abiding citizens.

Federal agents who knowingly enforce those laws could face civil penalties stemming from lawsuits filed by Missouri residents who think their gun rights were infringed. Those workers would also be banned from future careers in state or local enforcement.

“We want to cause a reason for law enforcement to have a healthy pause before they might infringe on the Second Amendment rights of Missouri citizens,” said Sen. Brian Nieves, R-Washington.

Other states, such as Wyoming, South Dakota, Arizona, Tennessee, Kansas, and Alaska already have some version of federal gun law nullification on the books.

Some of these laws prevent state law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws, while others attempt to prevent federal agencies from enforcing federal gun laws in the state. In 2011, Utah started the trend of states enacting laws which formally recognize gold and silver coins as legal tender.

Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Wyoming all have laws on the books that either recognize gold and silver coins as legal tender, or eliminate sales and capital gains taxes on gold and silver coins, or both.

Idaho is considering legislation that would, “hold some portion of state funds in physical gold and silver to help secure state assets against the risks of inflation and financial turmoil and/or to achieve capital gains as measured in Federal Reserve Notes.”

This all shows that certain states are taking measures to protect their citizens from federal overreach, and to help maintain stability if the US dollar rapidly loses value. Remember, $8 trillion worth of government debt matures this year alone.  And with countries like China buying less US government debt, the Federal Reserve will likely need to step in as the buyer… with freshly printed dollars. That brings us back to wise state legislators – who see the dollar devaluation that’s ahead. 

A lot of events took place over the past year, which many people thought were impossible. So, it makes sense to be prepared for anything.