Austin, TX
How will Texas' power grid fare this winter?: FOX 7 Focus
How prepared is the Texas power grid for winter?
Is the Texas power grid prepared for a winter weather event? Austin’s John Krinjak spoke one-on-one with local energy expert Doug Lewin in this FOX 7 Focus.
AUSTIN, Texas – How prepared is the Texas power grid for a winter weather event like the deadly ice storm we saw back in 2021?
Those questions are resurfacing after a prediction from ERCOT’s meteorologist that we could see similar weather conditions this upcoming winter.
FOX 7 Austin’s John Krinjak spoke one-on-one with local energy expert Doug Lewin, author of the Texas Energy and Power newsletter, to get some answers.
JOHN KRINJAK: So we heard from ERCOT’s chief meteorologist this week who kind of warned of weather trends similar to the weather trends we saw back in 2021. Kind of the ingredients that support something like that devastating winter storm. What are your thoughts? What’s your reaction to that prediction?
DOUG LEWIN: Yeah. So obviously, it’s, you know, little, little scary, right? Yeah. Start with the obvious. You know, that that kind of sustained deep freeze obviously wreaks havoc. And as we saw in 2021, I do think that if we had the exact same weather system, we would be better off than we were in 2021. Two main reasons for that is the PUC and ERCOT have been enforcing a winterization standard for power plants. That seems to be working pretty well. We have data on this. Also, we have a whole lot more solar in storage.
JOHN KRINJAK: Where do you think we are still vulnerable? When you look at that big picture of ‘we’re more reliable now than we were, but maybe not all the way there’.
DOUG LEWIN: Yeah. The vulnerabilities are really on the gas supply system. Right. I do think the state has made progress on power plants. But if you can’t get gas to those power plants, they could be winterized to the nines. You know, winterized is as good as anybody’s ever winterized a power plant. It’s only as good as the fuel you can get to it. Right. So the gas and gas is still up for all the wind and solar development we’ve had. For all the talk, nuclear and geothermal and all that. Gas is the dominant source of power on our grid and we rely on it throughout the year and in the wintertime particularly. So having a winterized gas supply system is really important. We don’t have it right now. The other big vulnerability is on demand and energy efficiency. We still would have, you know, two problems during year, not enough supply to much demand. We really have not in the state address energy efficiency. So that excessively high demand we saw during winter storm Uri would would be there again, unfortunately.
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JOHN KRINJAK: So, you know, given the gains that we’ve made and the vulnerabilities that we still have, what do you think the picture looks like if we have something similar to Uri again? Do we see outages? Do we see widespread outages? What what is that? What could that look like?
DOUG LEWIN: Yeah, I think there would be outages. I just don’t think that they would be so so during, you know, winter storm Uri, obviously a defining feature of it was people that were outraged were out for days. Right. So these outages are often described as rolling outages. They weren’t rolling during winter storm Uri. Right. A rolling outage would be you lose power for 15 minutes, 30 minutes maybe on the upper end, 1 or 2 hours, and then the power comes back on. And I think that if we had one again, what we would see is the actual ability to rotate outages again, partially because we have so much solar. So yeah, I don’t think we would see a situation where 10 million Texans are without power for days at a time. It might be a few hundred thousand or a few million Texans and it might be a few hours at a time instead of a few days.
JOHN KRINJAK: What do you think Texans should be thinking about, you know, given this kind of weather scenario, what should people be doing to prepare?
DOUG LEWIN: You know, I would say the main things are just to make sure that you have, you know, the supplies that you need, you know, things like firewood and water and, you know, food that can be prepared without electricity, making sure if you have an elderly neighbor, you know that they have a plan.
JOHN KRINJAK: Doug Lewin, we always appreciate your perspective. Thanks so much for making time for us.
DOUG LEWIN: Hey, thank you, John.
AUSTIN, Texas – A 20-year-old was arrested and charged with murder for a deadly shooting at the Cambria Hotel in downtown Austin, police said.
What we know:
Police said on Monday, Jan. 5, around 6:55 a.m., officers responded to a report of a gunshot at the Cambria Hotel at 68 East Avenue #824. The caller said a person had been shot.
When officers arrived, they found a man with injuries. He later died at the scene. He was identified as Luke Bradburn.
The investigation revealed that Bradburn drove and crashed a car that belonged to 20-year-old Maximillian Salinas. After the crash, Bradburn and the other people in the car left and went to the Cambria Hotel.
Salinas went to the hotel and shot Bradburn.
On Jan. 6, Salinas was arrested and charged with murder.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Austin Police at 512-974-TIPS. You may submit your tip anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or calling 512-472-8477.
The Source: Information from the Austin Police Department
Chants of “shame” and “ICE out of Texas” rang through the street as Austin-area activists joined thousands across the nation in protesting the killing of Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
The protest was held in front of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security building in Pflugerville.
Good, 37, was shot in her SUV while attempting to drive away from several ICE officers who ordered her to exit her vehicle.
Scarleth Lopez with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the organization that led the protest, said the videos of the shooting in Minneapolis were “sickening.”
“Trump has lied and and said that Renee was a terrorist. She was a mother. She was an innocent bystander,” Lopez said. “We must organize to stop these people from kidnapping and murdering.”
Lorianne Willett
/
KUT News
Elizabeth Bope, a retired Pflugerville ISD teacher, said the claims from federal and state lawmakers that Good was attempting to strike the ICE agent with her vehicle inspired her to attend the protest.
Such claims were posted online by Vice President J.D. Vance and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Attorney General Ken Paxton reposted a statement from DHS on X, formerly known as Twitter, that said the ICE agent “relied on his training and saved his own life.”
“It’s beyond really any words that they killed this woman for no reason, but also that they’re lying about it,” Bope said. “I’m not even a radical left person, I’m just a regular old Democrat.”
Other key Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have not commented on the shooting.
Lorianne Willett
/
KUT News
Doug Tickner, who said he works for a home building company in Austin, said he felt it was important to show up in person for Good.
“I don’t really think of Minneapolis as being that far from here, and it’s not like what happened in Minneapolis was some sort of one off unique event,” Tickner said. “This is part of a pattern, and I feel folks better wake up and realize that this is becoming more and more serious.”
The news that federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon, broke hours before the protest.
The gathering in Pflugerville is among the first of four anti-ICE demonstrations planned across the Austin area over the next few days.
Earlier on Thursday, protesters gathered at the intersection of 45th Street and Lamar Boulevard during rush hour. A protest on Friday will be held at the Capitol and another will be held Saturday at City Hall.
Lorianne Willett
/
KUT News
State and federal leaders are now sparring over who should conduct an investigation into the Minneapolis shooting, according to NPR.
Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which was originally asked to conduct a joint investigation with the FBI, said in a statement it was later told the investigation would be led solely by federal authorities.
AUSTIN, Texas – A Texas agency is concerned that the flesh-eating New World screwworm could be getting closer to Texas without commercial livestock movement.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is sounding the alarm again for livestock owners to remain vigilant in watching for signs of the parasite in their animals.
Screwworm sighting near Texas
The latest:
Miller said in a Thursday release that a screwworm had been detected in a cow in González, Tamaulipas, a little more than 200 miles from the southern Texas border.
According to the commissioner, the cow had no reported history of movement outside Tamaulipas, and is the third active case reported there.
Officials in Mexico have not reported a known population of the worm in Tamaulipas. They’re working with U.S. authorities to investigate further into the new case.
What they’re saying:
“The screwworm now may be moving closer on its own, with no apparent link to commercial animal movement,” Commissioner Miller said. “Texas producers must act now—stay informed, stay vigilant, and prepare immediately. We cannot drop our guard for even a moment.”
Inspect livestock for screwworm
What you can do:
Miller urged immediate action from ranchers along the Texas border.
“Inspect your animals daily,” Miller said. “Check every open wound. If anything looks suspicious, report it right away. Better a false alarm than a delayed response—early detection and rapid reporting are our strongest defenses against this devastating pest.”
U.S. plan to fight screwworm in Texas
Big picture view:
The threat to cattle has been deemed so potentially devastating to the U.S. food supply that the federal government is committing $850 million to fight it.
Most of that money will be spent on building a sterile male fly production facility near the border.
The facility will produce 300 million sterile male flies a week to be dropped into target areas where the screwworm is now. Those male flies help to reduce the population size through mating without reproducing.
A much smaller portion of the funding will be used for screwworm detection technology.
In addition, the federal government has already spent $21 million on a sterile fly production facility in Mexico.
What are New World screwworms?
Dig deeper:
The insect gets its name because it’s only found in the Americas.
It lays its eggs in the open wounds of animals, and its larvae become parasites, threatening livestock, domestic animals, and even people.
The screwworm was mostly eradicated in Texas and the rest of the United States in the 60s. But now, it’s moving north up from Panama and has a known presence a little over 300 miles south of the Texas-Mexico border.
The Source: Information in this article comes from Sid Miller.
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