Biden Declares ‘Energy Emergency’ in Texas amid Rolling Blackout Fears

Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration has declared an “energy emergency” in Texas due to an “extreme heat event.”

Biden’s Department of Energy (DOE) issued a statement to announce the move.

The department revealed that the action was taken over mounting fears of rolling blackouts in the state.

The emergency declaration granted the Electric Reliability Council of Texas authority to temporarily exceed the state’s “climate emissions” limits.

The state’s green agenda limits were preventing the electrical grid from generating enough energy to avoid power outages.

ERCOT, whose service covers 90% of customers in Texas, filed a Conservation Appeal on Thursday morning in anticipation of low operating reserves.

According to the filing, Texas was facing rolling blackouts “due to continued high temperatures, high demand, low wind, & declining solar power generation.”

“We request Texas businesses & residents conserve electricity use, if safe to do so,” ERCOT posted on Twitter/X on Thursday.

ERCOT told the DOE that a “heat wave” had resulted in “abnormally high electric demand.”

“Temperatures on September 7, 2023, are expected to reach 107 degrees in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 105 degrees in the Houston area, 103 degrees in the San Antonio area, and 105 degrees in the Austin area, while temperatures on September 8, 2023, are expected to reach 108, 106, 107, and 105 degrees in these same areas, respectively,” ERCOT reported to the DOE.

“These high temperatures are driving record demands for this time of year.”

On Wednesday, ERCOT declared an Energy Emergency Alert Level 2 at 7:25 p.m.

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The alert indicates that operating reserves dropped below 2,300 megawatts, the Houston Chronicle reported.

ERCOT has not declared a level two emergency since Winter Storm Uri in 2021.

If operating reserves drop below 1,000 megawatts and are not expected to recover within 30 minutes, ERCOT could implement rolling outages as a last resort.

Meanwhile, the corporation is urging Texans to conserve energy to avoid overloading the grid.

The Texas Tribune reported that ERCOT has asked residents to conserve energy at least 10 times this summer.

The DOE granted ERCOT’s request for an emergency order, allowing it to exceed air pollutant permitting limits.

“The emergency nature of the expected load stress caused by the current extreme heat event threatens to cause loss of power to homes and local businesses in the areas that may be affected by curtailments, presenting a risk to public health and safety,” the DOE stated.

ERCOT issued a statement confirming that it managed to avoid rolling blackouts after the emissions limits were lifted.

After the emergency order was issued, the energy load normalized.

“Thank you to Texas residents and businesses for your conservation efforts, which along with improved wind conditions and additional reliability tools, helped us get through another tight peak time,” ERCOT said.

READ MORE: Bill Gates Pushes Plan to Chop Down 70 Million Acres of Trees to ‘Fight Global Warming’

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