What’s Happened Since the Fallout of the Texas Snowstorm

Since I started writing this, Governor Greg Abbott has done a couple of things after the Texas snowstorm.

Responding to the Crisis

He’s announced that electric companies can’t shut off power for non-payment as they “work out” how to address the issue of the bills people are getting. 

From my understanding of the situation, he isn’t outright saying that people will not be responsible for paying for those bills. Though, at the very least, he makes it sound like they possibly might have the state cover the costs. Even that isn’t ideal. It will mean that the electricity companies that allowed this to happen will make who knows how much money, not receive punishment for their negligence, and the tax-payers will still have to pay in the end. 

We’ll have to see what happens there, but I’m not very optimistic about it.

Diverting Attention Away From the Crisis

Secondly, Abbott announced Texas reopening at “100%” as of Wednesday, March 10th. Personally, I think he wants to redirect attention away from the storm and onto what he considers a success of the state. 

Not only does this do nothing about what happened, but it also allows for additional problems to arise out of risking another wave of the virus when we’ve only just started gaining any ground. 

What Now?

I don’t know what to expect in Texas or this country over the next few weeks and months, especially as the rest of us feel the push to move on and forget what just happened, but I will continue to keep my eyes open to what’s happening. I try to remain ever-hopeful, but that is a constant challenge with each day, it seems. 

We must heed the warning of what happened in Texas, on multiple fronts. Any part of our government – local, state, and federal – holds the capacity to abandon us in a crisis. This last year alone, dealing with Covid should prove enough, even if what happened in Texas didn’t happen. But also the fact that we cannot waste any more time ignoring climate change, especially if we’re not going to invest in protecting people and our infrastructure. If we don’t heed this warning, I fear what lies ahead of us as a country.