Of course, Texas oil and gas interests should have a seat at the table, but

they should not have a monopoly on all the seats. This recent article in the

Dallas Morning News gives you a bird's eye view of just whose

recommendations will be used in the 2023 legislative session by legislators

to address upgrading and securing the Texas grid. 

 

This is an elite group of people in the industry – consumer advocates need

not apply. The plan was NOT vetted by public eyes even though the

Legislature will be using this plan to guide them! Of special note to us in

HD 17 is the Chairman, Phil Wilson. Wilson has been attached at the hip

to Rick Perry (my Republican opponent's paymaster) for decades, starting

with his appointment as Texas Secretary of State. Wilson is the CEO of the

LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority), which is engaged in groundwater

water grabs on HD17's ground water supply. Landowners and aquifer

sustainability be damned.

 

The over-arching arm of state government to pick the winners and losers in

our supposedly “free-market” economy is rampant. We saw this after the

grid’s collapse in February 2021 with the Governor’s and others’ statements

about renewables being the source of the problem when it was a problem

with facilities using natural gas. 

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Is there any policy issue in Texas sacred from two party power politics?

This is becoming a question of life and death here in Texas.