Over the weekend, NBC’s Today shows on both Saturday and Sunday eagerly tried to exploit the deadly winter weather in Texas to push the Biden administration’s radical climate change agenda. The broadcasts rushed to blame Republicans for power grid failures in the state and hail the U.S. rejoining the Paris Climate Accord just in time to somehow avert future disasters.
“There are growing concerns that this unfolding disaster in Texas could be a warning about climate disasters in the future,” co-host Peter Alexander warned on Saturday Today. He then welcomed on Biden administration national climate adviser and former Obama administration EPA administrator Gina McCarthy to politicize the desperate situation. She agreed with his introduction of the segment:
And you’re right, this is one of those weather events that we shouldn’t think of being unpredictable at this point. We are going to be facing these extreme weather events and challenges and we have to be prepared.
Fellow co-host Kristen Welker teed her up to bash the governor “...let me ask you about something that the Texas Governor Greg Abbott said. He said, quote, ‘Our wind and our solar got shut down. It just shows that fossil fuel is necessary.’ Is that the take away from this week, Director?” McCarthy declared:
It’s not surprising that people would criticize, you know, renewable energy, it seems to be what people do. But we’ve got to get serious about this. We’ve got to get serious about protecting those people and getting through this disaster, doing a close look, but honestly, we have to take climate a lot more seriously, which is why the President is really initiating a whole-of-government approach to this. So we start taking it with the seriousness it deserves.
Referring to the Paris Climate Accord, Welker lobbed this softball: “So can the United States catch up to the aggressive commitments that were set in order to match its initial promises?” McCarthy assured her: “Yeah, of course we can. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Over the next few months, it’s our job to work across the federal government to identify the opportunities for reductions [in carbon emissions]...”
On Sunday Today, correspondent Anne Thompson cheered: “The U.S. is back in the climate fight, formally re-entering the Paris agreement to global applause.” That was interwoven with soundbites of Biden announcing: “America is back....Together we need to invest in the technical innovations that are going to power our clean energy future.”
Thompson used Texas as an example of why the U.S. had to rejoin the job-killing international agreement: “As the eyes of the world focused on Texas and the devastating failure of its electrical grid....the entire state in a deep freeze, suffering from extreme weather climate change can make more frequent.”
After hammering Governor Abbott for “the political spin that’s coming out of Texas in the wake of this crisis,” Thompson continued with her own Democratic Party spin by urging for an end to fossil fuels: “I think the other thing you’re going to see is an increased move to clean energy because it’s those fossil fuel plants burning natural gas and coal that are causing climate change and it’s climate change that is causing the extreme weather events leading to things like we saw in Texas this past week.”
Co-host Willie Geist concluded: “Yeah, it’s hard to imagine a crisis of this magnitude doesn’t rouse people here.”
The leftist media are never shy about using a crisis to help Democrats force through their agenda.
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Here is a full transcript of the February 20 segment on Saturday Today:
7:05 AM ET
PETER ALEXANDER: There are growing concerns that this unfolding disaster in Texas could be a warning about climate disasters in the future. We want to bring in Gina McCarthy, she is the first-ever White House National Climate Adviser and she was also the EPA administrator during the Obama administration. Director McCarthy, good morning. Thanks for waking up with us. As you know well, there are three major energy grids in the continental U.S., one basically for the east, one for the west. And then there’s Texas, that is effectively an island here. Is it time for Texas’s independent grid to join those more national systems? And what’s the federal government’s responsibility here?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: A Cautionary Tale; Lessons Learned From Texas Power Grid Failure]
GINA MCCARTHY: Well, we certainly have been talking about all the challenges in Texas and the first thing I have to say is my heart goes out to everybody in Texas. And I know that President Biden has sent a team of folks out, not just FEMA, but across the federal government to bring blankets and generators and food. So hopefully that – folks will be stepping up here for the people in Texas.
You know, in terms of the failure and the power grid, I think that Texas has been recommended to really connect and make sure there’s resilience in their system, like every other state, to be able to seek help from other states and other areas when these types of disasters hit.
And you’re right, this is one of those weather events that we shouldn’t think of being unpredictable at this point. We are going to be facing these extreme weather events and challenges and we have to be prepared.
So I think Texas will be fully prepared to see whether or not it’s time for them to connect to the grid, get that resilience in the system, and make sure that we’re all doing everything we can to protect one another.
KRISTEN WELKER: And Director McCarthy, when we look to the future, what needs to be done, let me ask you about something that the Texas Governor Greg Abbott said. He said, quote, “Our wind and our solar got shut down. It just shows that fossil fuel is necessary.” Is that the take away from this week, Director?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Tackling the Climate Crisis; How Biden Plans to Move Toward Greener Energy]
MCCARTHY: I don’t think people believe that’s the take away. Look, wind is about 9% to 12% of the resources that Texas relies on. They actually – wind did better than gas, the natural gas and coal, in terms of their reliability during this process. But that really – really, there’s time for those type of discussions. It’s not surprising that people would criticize, you know, renewable energy, it seems to be what people do. But we’ve got to get serious about this. We’ve got to get serious about protecting those people and getting through this disaster, doing a close look, but honestly, we have to take climate a lot more seriously, which is why the President is really initiating a whole-of-government approach to this. So we start taking it with the seriousness it deserves.
ALEXANDER: Yeah, sorry to interrupt you. Director McCarthy, just to be clear, there is a very ambitious plan from the Biden administration right now, $2 trillion to spend on this effort. Given that we’re in the middle of a pandemic and economic crisis, is this the right time to pursue that path?
MCCARTHY: You know, the reason why the President is focused on this is because the time is now. But it also is an opportunity for us, as we start rebuilding our economy, to build it on the most firm base that we can and the one that’s going to grow the most jobs. And that happens to be clean energy. This is our opportunity not just to get out of COVID-19, but to think about how we rebuild. To think about how our country rejoins the international effort, which we just did in Paris, to actually address climate, but more importantly...
WELKER: Can I follow up with you –
MCCARTHY: ...it’s going to grow jobs now.
WELKER: Can I follow up with you on that very point, on Paris? Of course the Trump administration had pulled out of the agreement. So can the United States catch up to the aggressive commitments that were set in order to match its initial promises?
MCCARTHY: Yeah, of course we can. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Over the next few months, it’s our job to work across the federal government to identify the opportunities for reductions, and that’s going to be standard setting. And it’s also going to be investment. This is not about sacrifice. People are sacrificing enough, as you can see. This is about making sure that we don’t sacrifice in the future any more than we have to. And that we actually use this as an opportunity to go good, union, high paying jobs to actually understand how to strengthen our economy and move it forward. So even if you don’t like the idea of talking about climate change, then let’s just talk about what we need to do to grow jobs in this country again and bring people the stability they expect from the United States. We will get a strong commitment when we go to Glasgow in November with other countries. There is no question about that.
ALEXANDER: Director Gina McCarthy, we appreciate your time and your perspective this morning. Thanks so much.
MCCARTHY: Take care, thank you.
Here is a full transcript of the February 21 segment on Sunday Today:
8:18 AM ET
WILLIE GEIST: This week, as millions of Texans have endured subfreezing temperatures without power and many still are being ordered to boil their water just to make it safe, leaders in the state and experts across the country are debating how Texas got here. While at first Governor Greg Abbott erroneously blamed the failure on renewable energy sources, the organization that manages the Texas power grid reported the outages came from fossil fuels like natural gas, which produce the bulk of the state’s power. So what does the disaster in Texas mean for the future of the way America makes and uses energy? NBC’s Anne Thompson takes a look in our Sunday Focus.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Why the Grid Failed; Green Energy and How the Texas Power Failure Exposed Vulnerabilities]
JOE BIDEN: America is back.
ANNE THOMPSON: The U.S. is back in the climate fight, formally re-entering the Paris agreement to global applause.
BIDEN: Together we need to invest in the technical innovations that are going to power our clean energy future.
THOMPSON: As the eyes of the world focused on Texas and the devastating failure of its electrical grid.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN [TEXAS RESIDENT]: It’s freezing, it’s a blackout, no electricity.
THOMPSON: More than four million people lost power, the entire state in a deep freeze, suffering from extreme weather climate change can make more frequent.
LEAH STOKES, PH.D. [UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES DEPT.]: We know that our infrastructure is struggling under just one degrees Celsius of warming, which is where we’re at right now, and that’s causing stress not only to our grid infrastructure but also to our water systems and so much more.
THOMPSON: Texas produces more electricity than any other state. The vast majority managed by ERCOT. Most of its generating capacity comes from fossil fuels, natural gas and coal. But as equipment froze, knocking plans gas and coal plants off line Texas Governor Greg Abbott initially blamed renewable energy.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT [R-TX]: Our wind and our solar got shut down and they were collectively more than 10% of our power grid.
THOMPSON: Ed Hirs is an energy fellow at the University of Houston. Is renewable power to blame?
ED HIRS [ENERGY FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON]: No, not at all. I mean, 40% of the grid going down, you know, that’s much greater than the renewable power load. The Texas grid system is like an old Soviet bureau. The generators have not earned enough revenue to cover their cost and so they haven’t had an incentive to reinvest. And so with that neglect, the infrastructure begins to fail.
THOMPSON: Are you surprised by some of the political spin that’s coming out of Texas in the wake of this crisis?
STOKES: Sadly, no. Because I’ve seen this film before, you know.
THOMPSON: Dr. Stokes points to last summer’s western heat wave that caused rolling blackouts in California. Again, some people tried to blame renewables. Power officials said the problem was supply.
STOKES: And why wasn’t there enough supply? Well, again, the cause is the same. In California, the fossil fuel gas plants could not operate in the extreme heat. They were not resilient, ironically, to climate change.
THOMPSON: Both Stokes and Hirs agree we need to move to clean energy and reinvest in our grids, having learned the deadly price of no power.
HIRS: The opportunity cost of not having reliable electricity is so much greater than another one or two pennies a kilowatt hour. This penny wise, pound foolish approach of local government, of state government and of federal government has led us to this deteriorating infrastructure, not just in Texas but in many regions of the nation.
THOMPSON: So Ed, what’s the answer?
HIRS: Suck it up and spend some money.
WILLIE GEIST: And Anne joins me now live. Anne, good morning, it’s good to see you. There obviously are powerful interests involved here, lots of money at stake in the energy business. So will the disaster of the last week actually bring about change?
THOMPSON: I think it will. You’re already seeing some movement in Texas, Willie. Governor Abbott, who famously initially blamed renewables for this crisis is now saying that he wants the legislature to mandate winterization and modernization of the power generators in Texas. Ironically, that was something that was recommended ten years ago during the last arctic blast but clearly not acted on.
I think the other thing you’re going to see is an increased move to clean energy because it’s those fossil fuel plants burning natural gas and coal that are causing climate change and it’s climate change that is causing the extreme weather events leading to things like we saw in Texas this past week.
GEIST: Yeah, it’s hard to imagine a crisis of this magnitude doesn’t rouse people here. Anne, thank you so much, great piece.
