Almost three years since the deadly Texas blackout of 2021, a panel of judges from the First Court of Appeals in Houston has ruled that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the crisis. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.
The decision seems likely to protect the companies from lawsuits filed against them after the blackout. It leaves the families of those who died unsure where next to seek justice.
In February of 2021, a massive cold front descended on Texas, bringing days of ice and snow. The weather increased energy demand and reduced supply by freezing up power generators and the state’s natural gas supply chain. This led to a blackout that left millions of Texans without energy for nearly a week.
The state has said almost 250 people died because of the winter storm and blackout, but some analysts call that a serious undercount.
They went to very special efforts to remove themselves from the national energy grid, the only one of the Continental states that did so iirc. Which didn’t stop them from halfheartedly asking for aid when shit hit the fan. They literally asked for this “right”, to self regulate independently from the federal government.
Their own self stupidity should not stop them from being regulated by the federal government. It’s like if Florida allowed murder as long as it was Florida citizens within Florida’s borders.