Three Years Gone

As Winter Storm Uri blacked out much of Texas on Feb. 15, 2021, Texans erupted in outrage that such a catastrophe could happen here. 

In the ensuing days, Texans learned, painfully and publicly, about grid recommendations made by federal regulators after outages in winter 2011. These recommendations, largely ignored by state officials, could have significantly lessened Texans’ pain and damages from the 2021 freeze.

In the three years since Uri, in some cases, state leaders have taken steps to protect the grid and the people who rely on it. But in others, Texas is making some of the same disastrous mistakes it did after 2011.

In November 2021, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a 300-page report on the Uri blackouts. The report included 28 common-sense, far-sighted recommendations designed to prevent or mitigate such outages in the future. The agencies urged Texas to implement the recommendations by this winter, if not sooner. 

Today marks three years since Uri killed hundreds of Texans, blacked out millions more, and wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid, water systems, and economy. 

Here’s a look at which recommendations have been implemented — and, more disturbingly, those that haven’t…