Texas has been experiencing unusually cold temperatures, paired with snow and ice, which has caused widespread power outages this past week. | Image Source: pixy.org
Texas has been experiencing unusually cold temperatures, paired with snow and ice, which has caused widespread power outages this past week. | Image Source: pixy.org
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has warned Michigan lawmakers that the energy blackouts happening in Texas and nearby states could happen in the Wolverine State as well.
"The stories coming out of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and California, as well as other areas that rely heavily on renewable energy, should cause every member of both the Senate and House energy committees to sit up and take notice," Jason Hayes, director of environmental policy at the Mackinac Center, wrote in a letter addressed to Sen. Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway Township) and Rep. Joe Bellino (R-Monroe).
Lauwers and Bellino chair the energy committees in the respective chambers of the Michigan Legislature.
Hayes said Michigan residents have already felt the effects of a strained energy system during the "Polar Vortex" in 2019. It was during that time of extreme cold that the state's main source of natural gas supply failed, and renewable energy sources only provided a microscopic amount of energy to the grid. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration said the state's energy system would fail if usage wasn't dropped and encouraged residents to keep their thermostats at 65 degrees or lower.
"The Midwest was fortunate, at that time, that we also had a substantial supply of nuclear and coal to supply essential energy for heating," Hayes wrote in his letter. "Unfortunately for its residents, Texas is much further along in its transition to an undeniable renewable energy-focused system that relies on just-in-time natural gas to back it up."
Hayes noted that major utility companies in Michigan, including Consumers Energy and DTE, have pledged to emit no carbon dioxide by 2040 and 2050 respectively. They plan on doing this with by replacing nuclear, natural gas and coal with solar and wind energy.
"We are rapidly moving our electricity system toward the same heavy reliance on renewable energy sources, backed by natural gas, as both Texas and California," Hayes wrote.
Hayes has asked state lawmakers to rescind the renewable energy standard and adopt a new one that would require new electricity sources to be reliable and available when needed.
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