Federal reg's accused of hampering Texas response to extreme weather

 The Lid:

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Texas had the capacity to ramp up power generation but first, it needed the equivalent of a hall pass from some federal environmental hall monitor. Without permission, no power.

The Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing several Texas power plants to produce as much electricity as possible, a move expected to violate anti-pollution rules that comes amid a deepening electricity crisis in the state that has cut power to millions of homes.

The Energy Department order, requested by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, authorizes power plants throughout the state to run a maximum output levels, even as such a move is anticipated to result in a violation of limits of pollution.

 Without power? Well, we all saw what happened next. And Texans are the ones getting blamed for it. Here’s the Federal Government’s Department Of Energy response to the crisis, Order No. 202-21-1.

A couple of interesting details from that order. Even while homes are being destroyed from frozen pipes, and people are being killed by the cold, these skinflints still make sure to add all kinds of extra environmental hoops for Texan energy peeps to jump through.

Keep in mind, Governor Abbott declared a State of Disaster for the entire state as of February 12. Blandly-named government order number 202-21-1 concludes with these words: “Issued in Washington, D.C. at 8:51 PM Eastern Standard Time on this 14th day of, February 2021.”

ERCOT [The Electric Reliability Council of Texas] has been alerted that numerous generation units will be unable to operate at full capacity without violating federal air quality or other permit limitations. ERCOT requests that the Secretary issue an order immediately, effective February 14, 2021 through February 19, 2021, authorizing “the provision of additional energy from all generation units subject to emissions or other permit limits” in the ERCOT region.

The generating units (Specified Resources) that this Order pertains to are listed on the Order 202-21-1 Resources List, as described below.

Given the emergency nature of the expected load stress, the responsibility of ERCOT to ensure maximum reliability on its system, and the ability of ERCOT to identify and dispatch generation necessary to meet the additional load, I have determined that additional dispatch of the Specified Resources is necessary to best meet the emergency and serve the public interest for purposes of FPA section 202(c). Because the additional generation may result in a conflict with environmental standards and requirements, I am authorizing only the necessary additional generation, with reporting requirements as described below.

(…) In the event ERCOT identifies the need to exceed other relevant environmental permitting levels, ERCOT shall specifically identify such permitting levels and DOE will consider ERCOT’s request in good faith.

All entities must comply with environmental requirements to the maximum extent necessary to operate consistent with the emergency conditions. This Order does not provide relief from an entity’s obligations to purchase allowances for emissions that occur during the emergency condition or to use other geographic or temporal flexibilities available to generators.

People’s lives are in shambles, but rather than prioritizing a nimble and effective response to getting people back to their normal lives, they are prioritizing using favored sources of energy and not ‘overproducing’.
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So when the greens blame the fossil fuel plants for not producing enough energy during the crisis it is because of Big Green regulations at the federal level.  That is something those freezing in the dark need to know.