Parts of Texas were in a dangerous situation Tuesday as back-to-back freezing weather systems left the Lone Star state with rolling blackouts as the power grid struggled to heat homes. But while the broadcast networks gawked at their plight, one even blaming it on a lack of federal control, they failed to tell viewers the truth: so-called green energy systems such as wind turbines were freezing over, preventing them from generating the much-needed power.
“In parts of Texas and Oklahoma temperatures haven't been this low in 100 years, causing pipes to freeze and then explode, and taxing an electrical grid not designed to heat tens of millions of homes,” announced anchor Norah O’Donnell near the top of CBS Evening News.
Covering the struggles of average Texans, correspondent Omar Villafranca reported: “Over three million Texans are still without power because the state's grid can't keep up with the demand. And millions more are subject to rolling blackouts, some as long as 30 hours.”
He went a step further and hinted that the power grid was failing because the federal government didn’t have oversight. “Texas is the only state in the continental U.S. that has its own power grid. It's not regulated by the federal government, and tonight people are angry that it's failed,” he chided.
What Villafranca refused to mention was the fact wind turbines were seizing due to the historically low temperatures.
“And as a second round of storms promises to pack another punch, anger in Texas is mounting. The state has its own power grid which is powered largely by natural gas and wind, with some wind turbines now frozen,” noted correspondent Casey Stegall reported on Fox News Channel’s Special Report.
Adding: “Tonight, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is calling for the state legislature to investigate the entity that runs the Texas power grade to see if any reform it needs to be made. Federal regulators have said they will also do the same.”
So Omar, how are those federal regulators going to do that?
There was similar coverage on ABC’s World News Tonight. Completely omitting the frozen green energy systems from his report, national correspondent Marcus Moore highlighted how the failing power grid was seriously hurting people (Click “expand”):
MARCUS MOORE: The coldest temperatures in parts of the state in more than 100 years is bursting pipes and damaging homes while families shiver inside. In Houston, a woman and an 8-year-old girl dying of carbon monoxide poisoning after a car was left running in a garage to help generate heat. A man and a 7-year-old boy taken to the hospital.
(…)
MOORE: Houston hospitals treating at least 140 patients. Six people from one family among them. A mother and child in critical condition. They were heating charcoal indoors to stay warm. And in Sugarland, a grandmother and her three grandchildren died in a house fire overnight. The cause is under investigation.
Back in Houston, frozen hydrants hindering firefighters as they battle the flames at an apartment. Forced to rely on water in their trucks for a time. And tonight, outrage over the outages and images like these, showing Houston skyscrapers lit up while most of the city was blacked out.
And while correspondent Morgan Chesky didn’t really use his NBC Nightly News segment to bash Texas, he didn’t mention the frozen turbines either.
“And tonight with frustrations mounting over those power outages, Texas Governor Greg Abbott calling for accountability and an investigation into the state's electric council, describing them over the last 48 hours as anything but reliable,” he told anchor Lester Holt.
Reports of Texas’s plight with frozen wind turbines even made it across the pond, with the British Independent noting: “Frozen wind turbines have caused almost half of Texas’s wind generation capacity to go offline in the midst of an ‘unprecedented storm’.”
This omission of fact was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Verizon on ABC, TD Ameritrade on CBS, and Progressive on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’S World News Tonight
February 16, 2021
6:34:40 p.m. Eastern(…)
MARCUS MOORE: The coldest temperatures in parts of the state in more than 100 years is bursting pipes and damaging homes while families shiver inside. In Houston, a woman and an 8-year-old girl dying of carbon monoxide poisoning after a car was left running in a garage to help generate heat. A man and a 7-year-old boy taken to the hospital.
(…)
6:35:13 p.m. Eastern
MOORE: Houston hospitals treating at least 140 patients. Six people from one family among them. A mother and child in critical condition. They were heating charcoal indoors to stay warm. And in Sugarland, a grandmother and her three grandchildren died in a house fire overnight. The cause is under investigation.
Back in Houston, frozen hydrants hindering firefighters as they battle the flames at an apartment. Forced to rely on water in their trucks for a time. And tonight, outrage over the outages and images like these, showing Houston skyscrapers lit up while most of the city was blacked out.
(…)
CBS Evening News
February 16, 2021
6:32:11 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: In parts of Texas and Oklahoma temperatures haven't been this low in 100 years, causing pipes to freeze and then explode, and taxing an electrical grid not designed to heat tens of millions of homes.
(…)
6:33:39 p.m. Eastern
OMAR VILLAFRANCA: Over three million Texans are still without power because the state's grid can't keep up with the demand. And millions more are subject to rolling blackouts, some as long as 30 hours. Residents using blow dryers and heaters to thaw their frozen pipes.
(…)
6:34:38 p.m. Eastern
VILLAFRANCA: Texas is the only state in the continental U.S. that has its own power grid. It's not regulated by the federal government, and tonight people are angry that it's failed.
(…)
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
February 16, 2021
6:03:13 p.m. EasternCASEY STEGALL: And as a second round of storms promises to pack another punch, anger and Texas is mounting. The state has its own power grid which is powered largely by natural gas and wind, with some wind turbines now frozen.
[Cuts back to live]
Tonight, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is calling for state legislature to investigate the entity that runs the Texas power grade to see if any reform it needs to be made. Federal regulators have said they will also do the same.
(…)
