If you read Dan Markell’s letter in Wednesday’s Independent, you might be inclined to believe the crisis in Texas can be blamed on an over reliance on green energy, specifically wind turbines. Yes, Gov. Greg Abbott did initially lay the blame at the base of a frozen wind turbine, but let’s dive deeper into the facts.

Texas is an energy independent state. Texas is its own grid. Texas generates, buys, sells and shares electrical energy only with fellow Texans. This is done to avoid federal regulation. Despite this, Texas has a diverse energy generation platform. From everything in Dan’s letter and what Fox and Friends are saying we could believe Texas got too far out on reliance on wind and that other platforms are operating normally. So what about coal fired plants — frozen, natural gas — frozen, nuclear — frozen, petroleum refineries — frozen. Besides the unusually cold weather, there is a common theme and it is not reliance on green energy. It is poor planning and the utter lack of insulation.

Al Kruse

Marshall