Grumet: Key to linking Texas to national power grids: Overcoming our fear of the feds

We were at the tail end of that brutal summer heat wave — during which ERCOT issued eight separate pleas in 15 days begging Texans to cut back on their electricity use — when Austin’s freshman congressman announced his plan to tackle one of the toughest issues in Texas.

“I am drafting federal legislation to connect Texas to the national electric grids,” U.S. Rep. Greg Casar posted Aug. 31 on social media.

I remember thinking: Great idea. Never going to happen.

Connecting Texas to the two national electric grids would bring tremendous benefits, making it possible to sell excess energy to other states and import what we need in times of high demand. Yet Texas leaders are stubbornly proud of our go-it-alone electric grid, contained within our state’s borders, supposedly free of federal entanglements. Even the calamitous 2021 winter freeze, which caused hundreds of deaths and left millions without power for days, didn’t shake Texas’ powerbrokers’ confidence in the wisdom of our energy isolationism.

“Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business,” former Gov. Rick Perry said amid the 2021 deadly freeze, unfazed by the irony that as former U.S. energy secretary, he was once part of the big, bad federal government.

Oops.

I caught up with Casar a few weeks after his announcement, curious if he really thinks he can advance a policy that is eminently sensible yet politically fraught, especially at a time when the U.S. House is mired in dysfunction. Plus, if the chief obstacle to interconnection is Texas’ fear of federal meddling, is a mandate from Congress really the way to solve this problem?

Points to Casar for optimism. He is focused on making the strong economic case for interconnection, arguing that shoring up access to power should be as popular and broadly nonpartisan as the other infrastructure bills that clear Congress.

“This should be like fixing bridges and upgrading ports, where we can bring Republicans and Democrats together for the good of the country,” Casar told me recently by phone.

The Austin Democrat is hoping to plug into the larger national conversation about strengthening the power supply, as more communities experience extremely hot summers or bitter winters, and as more drivers rely on the grid to power electric cars. Texas should be part of the solution.

Roger Duncan, former general manager of Austin Energy who remains a sounding board for people exploring energy options, told me he has heard from people in other states who would love to buy power from Texas — if we could get it to them. And there are Texas firms that would love to provide it elsewhere.

“We have developers ready to develop more wind and solar now in the pipeline, but they can't develop it because there's not enough capacity on the lines coming out of West Texas to carry the energy,” Duncan said.

“We’re missing a huge economic potential,” he sighed.

At the same time, an item on the Nov. 7 ballot — Proposition 7 — asks Texas voters to create a taxpayer-funded Texas energy fund to provide grants and loans to build or expand natural gas-fueled power plants. The Legislature set aside $5 billion to start.

But research shows it is more cost-effective to meet Texas’ energy needs by expanding the grid, not building more plants to serve Texas alone, said Michael Webber, a University of Texas mechanical engineering professor and energy expert.

Webber is baffled by Texas leaders’ refusal to connect to the national grids. The Lone Star State isn’t an energy island.

“We interconnect with other states for energy when it comes to natural gas, liquefied natural gas, crude oil or wood pellets, refined products like diesel or gasoline,” Webber told me. “So why don't we do it for electrons? So what's different about this?”

“It’s just a weird philosophical hang-up,” he continued. “We’ve been beating the drum that we hate the feds for so many decades that we forget that we are willing to cooperate with federal regulators all the time when it makes us money.

“And this,” he said of connecting to the national electric grids, “will make us money.”

It would also address a priority for the vast number of Texans. A University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll this year found 80% of Texans said it was very or extremely important to improve the reliability of the state’s energy grid.

As recently as last year, the Texas Public Utility Commission said it had no plans to connect to the national grids. To my inquiry about Casar's proposed bill, PUC chief press officer Ellie Breed said the agency doesn't comment on pending legislation.

Casar is convinced any fears of federal meddling are overblown. He notes that some parts of Texas are already looped into neighboring grids.

“There’s some real connection in El Paso, and at the top of the Panhandle, and around Jasper” in East Texas, Casar said. “Folks aren’t complaining about federal regulation there. In fact, those places didn’t suffer massive blackouts during Winter Storm Uri.”

Casar is still working on his bill, hammering out the wording and working to line up sponsors in the House as well as the Senate. That process will include addressing concerns about federal overreach if Texas connects to the national grids.

“We truly do intend to pass it, and I believe there is a path to doing it,” Casar said.

The trick will be showing Texans there’s no boogeyman to fear. Just the dark itself.

Grumet is the Statesman’s Metro columnist. Her column, ATX in Context, contains her opinions. Share yours via email at bgrumet@statesman.com or via Twitter at @bgrumet. Find her previous work at statesman.com/news/columns.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Pitch to link Texas to national grids faces fear of the feds