Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul is going after his own governor for the state’s recent power failures due to damaging winter storms.
While Paul acknowledged several factors contributed to Texas becoming “like a Third World country,” he partially faulted Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s “authoritarian Covid restrictions” for the power grid failure in a Newsmax op-ed.
“Gov. Abbott’s authoritarian Covid executive orders at least indirectly led to lax inspection, maintenance, and winterization of wind and other energy generation plants,” he wrote.
‘PEOPLE ARE WAKING UP’: RON PAUL CALLS LOCKDOWN ORDERS ‘A SCANDAL’
The former congressman noted that Abbott won a “wind leadership” award for his shift toward green energy policies and argued he “oversaw the near-collapse of wind energy generation” by being unprepared for the frigid temperatures. Paul claimed federal regulations forced Texas to “beg” Washington for permission to increase its energy capacity in anticipation of the storm, a request that was granted too little, too late.
“Why should the Federal government be allowed to freeze Texans to death in the name of controlling emissions from energy generation plants?” Paul wrote.
The state of Texas continues to deal with the aftershock of a winter storm that saw the state contend with subzero temperatures. Over the weekend, nearly 14 million Texans experienced water issues resulting in skyrocketing utility bills.
“We have a responsibility to protect Texans from spikes in their energy bills that are a result of the severe winter weather and power outages,” Abbott said on Saturday. “Today’s meeting was productive, and I applaud Republican and Democrat members of the Legislature for putting aside partisan politics to work together on this challenge. We are moving quickly to alleviate this problem and will continue to work collaboratively … to help Texas families and ensure they do not get stuck with skyrocketing energy bills.”
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President Biden is expected to visit the state this week, telling reporters at the White House last Friday that he plans to go after localities begin to recover.
Representatives for Abbott did not immediately reply to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
