Texas officials circulated climate skeptic's talking points on power failures during storm
WASHINGTON — As millions of Texans went without power for days during February's devastating storm, Texas oil and gas regulators were circulating talking points from a noted climate skeptic blaming system failures on the state's embrace of wind and solar energy, emails obtained by NBC News show.
The talking points from Alex Epstein, author of "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels," made their way to the Texas governor's office and to the state's oil and gas regulator, known as the Railroad Commission of Texas. One commissioner amplified the talking points on Twitter, while another commissioner's aide forwarded them to top Texas oil and gas lobbyists.
The talking points said there was a lesson to learn from the Texas crisis: that wind and solar power are "often useless when you need them most."
In fact, independent fact-checkers have repeatedly said the state's failure to weatherize, along with its disconnection from the national grid, triggered a domino effect that forced the massive blackouts as power plants went offline. The biggest losses of generation came from natural gas; failing wind power played only a minimal role.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-officials-circulated-climate-skeptic-s-talking-points-power-failures-n1262700