Snow hits Southfork

[Sarah]

Texas weather: Deaths mount as winter storm leaves millions without power

At least 21 people have died while many more are struggling with power cuts and frigid conditions.

www.bbc.co.uk

Southfork and most of Texas are currently covered in a blanket of thick snow, after winter storms hit the state.

One of my closest friends lives in Dallas and she has been telling me that the state are only giving people a certain amount of power every day before switching them off, as the amount of power currently being used is unheard of. When you think of how BIG Texas is, it's the only way they can work it, but it isn't making for very pleasant living conditions.

I had never thought of Texas as having extremely cold temperatures, so this has freaked me out a bit. I hope that my beloved state gets back to normal soon and that everyone is staying safe.

 

[Crimson]

I seem to recall the first season -- the miniseries -- of DALLAS looking cold (but, I don't think, snowy). Pretty cool to see Southfork dusted with snow, even if I presume the folks in Texas are having a miserable time in it.

 

[Billy Wall]

Don’t get me wrong, Texas isn’t exactly WNY, but it does get cold. I’ve known it gets cold down there since this game many years ago.

 

[Frank Underwood]

The problems with the power grid in Texas are as follows:
1. It's privatized.
2. It's deregulated
3. There are no financial incentives for plant operators to prepare for winter.
4. Cheap prices are emphasized over reliability.

Come to think of it, this sounds like something JR would have supported. He'd probably equip Southfork with a big ass generator to get them through.

 

[Grant Jennings]

There is power available from the Federal power grid but Texas won't use it, they don't want to borrow energy from other states now because they don't want to lend to other states when they are in need. Texas politicians are in bed with the oil companies so they are attacking green energy, saying frozen wind turbines are the reason for the outages. Yes, there are some frozen turbines but wind and solar power are out-performing fossil fuels during the crisis. Equipment that supplies natural gas has frozen also and is responsible for far more outages than the turbines.

Just as the federal government should have had a plan for a possible pandemic (it did under President Obama but the loser did away with it), the states should have plans in place for catastrophes like this. Instead of accepting responsibility Governor Abbott and other politicians are literally tilting at windmills. The right wing propaganda machine has jumped on the band-wagon, also blaming green energy (and, of course, denying climate change). At least there's one less voice on the radio to spew this nonsense.