Joe Biden Presidency thread *Please read OP - Threadbanned Users Added 4/5/21*

The amount of flak that we were getting in Texas due to the freeze-out from more liberal folks was anything but light, and I was seeing it again a couple months ago when I was being gleefully informed by folks living in other states that Texas was expecting rolling blackouts due to excess power demand during the heat waves. Which I hadn't heard living here, and it turned out we didn't have them, despite record power consumption.

ERCOT's failing was not that the grid failed, it was that they didn't warn people it might fail so that they could prepare. A once-in-fifty-years freeze is not worth spending the money for. The Republican idiocy was in blaming 'green energy' which was more reliable than the gas plants.

There are no two ways that California is a more deserving ribbing target for two reasons.

Firstly, Texas is working towards realistic generation goals. California is suddenly realising that it needs more power than it is planned to have, to the extent that last week Newsom had to expend political capitol in order to delay the shutdown of the Diablo Canyon plant for five years. There's no indication that adequate alternate power generation capability will be online in five years' time, but that won't be Newsom's problem: He'll term out in five years, and will likely be running for President. Texas is currently building a lot more generating capability than California is, even though it's got a smaller population.

Secondly, Texas doesn't blow its own trumpet on power generation anywhere near as much, and when it does, it doesn't undermine itself to the same extent. California wants to tout itself as being the leader in being green, it'll proclaim it loudly. Face it, if you have in mind the image of the State which dedicates itself to being green, California pretty much it, and Texas the dirty, polluting oil state. Part of the reason Newsom received so much hassle for wanting to extend Diablo Canyon was that it would mean that California would delay being able to say "we are 100% renewable in California." (The gas/coal plants are scheduled to start shutting down next year). Problem is, if you look into the details, California may have no evil nuclear or fossil fuel generators.... but it currently buys a third of its electricity from states which do. Further, California may be talking the talk, but Texas is walking the walk. Texas generates more renewable energy than CA, and it currently has more under construction than California does. Ironically, the reason for this is the de-regulation in the Texas regimen. It's not state government policy to build so much more green power generation, the suppliers are choosing to do so on their own because it's cost-effective, a motivation which does not exist in the state preserved monopoly such as PG&E has in California. Which, by the way, also charges far more for electricity.

Then you have California actively undermining itself. Promptly after Newsom announced that only electric cars will be authorised for sale after 2035, PG&E announced a power shortage and asked that folks not charge their electric cars if at all possible: The implications and irony are obvious, especially when combined with the lack of generation capability currently under construction. The reality, however, actually isn't as bad as all that, as folks will still be motoring around in their new 2035 fossil-fuel cars, so they won't be beholden to the power grid: It's hidden in the fine print, and you didn't hear any of the California politicians proudly announce it, but plug-in hybrids which have a petrol engine will still be legal for sale. However, that doesn't match with the image that Newsom et al wants to put out. Much better for his green credentials to say "we're banning everything except electric and hydrogen."

To be clear, I view this as a Texas/California spat, more than a Republican/Democrat one. I have absolutely no idea how good or bad the power systems are in New York or New Mexico or Colorado etc. I am, however, extremely familiar with the situations in California and Texas as a homeowner in both. I am far, far happier with the state of generation in Texas than in California.

Montana's an odd one, as their Democrats are more to the center than much of the national party. They are very happy to vote a gun-toting, god-fearing Democrat (Yes, they exist) into State office to include the Governor's mansion, but when looking at the two candidates for national office, are often finding the Republican closer to their ideals than the Democrat candidate. It may simply be also because they think a Republican will be more likely to make rural-friendly decisions than a Democrat whose base of power is the big cities.