Did Federal Government Feud with Texas stall Electric Grid Readiness in Houston?
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — A year before Hurricane Beryl left millions of Texas residents without power, the Biden Department of Energy rejected a $100 million application from CenterPoint Energy Company to strengthen its electric wires and poles in order to help guard against future storms and hurricane force winds.
Now, in the aftermath of the storm, Ed Hirs, a University of Houston energy economist, laid out the potential motivation for rejecting the application.
In a recent statement to E&E News, Hirs stated,“I don’t understand how the grant application could be rejected – this is the home of the petrochemical part of America.
"I mean, for God’s sakes, what’s DOE thinking?” asked Hirs.
After weeks of residents in Houston and its surrounding suburbs suffering while they waited for their power to be restored, Texas lawmakers are asking the same question – and demanding answers from the Biden White House.
They are also relaying the frustrations of Texas' residents.
When asked by journalists from Texas Politics about the potential motivation, Congressmen Michael McCloud and Randy Weber called out the Biden Administration directly:
“No doubt about it,” added Cong. Weber when asked whether he thought the denial was politically motivated.
The report by Texas Politics also delves into the feud between a number of Federal Agencies and the Lone Star State:
"And now it appears as if he has targeted CenterPoint Energy, denying their $100 million request from the Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience & Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) to fix Houston’s ailing power grid.”- READ MORE: Biden's $100 Million Centerpoint Energy Funding Denial Could be Politically Motivated
- When asked whether he thought the denial was politically motivated, “Texas is the #1 energy state, and so Biden, they don’t like that. I have to guess it was politically motivated,” said Cong. Weber.
After Hurricane Beryl knocked out power in Houston, and the funding denial became public, a number of Texas Congressmen – Reps. Morgan Luttrell, Michael McCaul, Brian Babin, Dan Crenshaw, Randy Weber, John Carter & Lance Gooden – penned a letter to Dept. of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm (at top of article,) expressing their concerns about its denying Centerpoint Energy funding to help address Houston’s rapidly growing population and business economy.
“According to reports, CenterPoint specifically requested the assistance 'to fund high wind and flood mitigation projects.' It should be noted that it was flooding and high winds from Hurricane Beryl that caused one of the largest – and ongoing – power outages in CenterPoint’s history," wrote the Congressmen.
"Further, it seems this denial was issued despite our region being particularly susceptible to weather events that impact grid infrastructure," the Congressmen said.
