Texas Blackouts Blamed on Frozen Wind Turbines
During Winter Storm Uri, Gov. Greg Abbott told Fox's Hannity that wind and solar shutting down had pushed Texas into a power shortage, and Fox hosts framed the blackouts as a warning against the Green New Deal.
Blamed renewable energy and the Green New Deal for a failure driven mainly by gas and other thermal plants.
What was reported
During Winter Storm Uri, Gov. Greg Abbott told Fox's Hannity that wind and solar shutting down had pushed Texas into a power shortage, and Fox hosts framed the blackouts as a warning against the Green New Deal.
What actually happened
Fox gave the wind-turbine explanation a large national platform as millions lost power. ERCOT data showed that thermal sources, mostly natural gas, made up the bulk of the missing generation, and that wind was a small share of the shortfall. Abbott said the next day that he had meant all power sources failed. The federal FERC/NERC investigation later found natural-gas units were the largest single source of generation failures.
The proof
The November 2021 FERC/NERC final report found gas-fired units accounted for 58% of generation failures; PolitiFact rated Abbott's claim False using ERCOT data.
The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:
Texas Blackouts Blamed on Frozen Wind Turbines — Debunked. The November 2021 FERC/NERC final report found gas-fired units accounted for 58% of generation failures; PolitiFact rated Abbott's claim False using ERCOT data. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/texas-blackout-frozen-wind-turbines/
Original reporting
- Mediaite: Abbott on Hannity blames wind and solar (secondary account of the Fox segment)https://www.mediaite.com/news/texas-gov-greg-abbott-gets-trashed-for-appearing-on-hannity-in-the-middle-of-blackout-crisis-to-blame-the-green-new-deal/
Corrections, findings & records
- PolitiFact: Fact-checking Texas Republicans' blackout blame (False)https://politifact.com/factchecks/2021/feb/19/greg-abbott/fact-checking-texas-republicans-blackout-blame/
- CBS DFW: Final FERC report on Texas grid failurehttps://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/news/federal-energy-regulatory-commission-final-report-texas-power-grid-failure/
Archived copies
Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.
- Archived copy: Mediaite: Abbott on Hannity blames wind and solar (secondary account of the Fox segment)https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.mediaite.com/news/texas-gov-greg-abbott-gets-trashed-for-appearing-on-hannity-in-the-middle-of-blackout-crisis-to-blame-the-green-new-deal/