Texas blackouts wake-up call for America's energy capital

Ex-Shell Oil president on Texas winter storm: ‘We’re living in a third world situation’

Former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister, who lives in Houston, says he has been without power since Monday morning following the ‘brutal’ winter storm in Texas.

The energy crisis in Texas, highlighted by a snowstorm and frigid temperatures, should be a warning and a wake-up all to every American.

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Rolling blackouts or people sleeping in their cars to stay warm is something that you would expect to hear about in a third-world country — not in the U.S. — as pointed out by former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister.

Yet the reality is that it is happening right in the heart of the energy capital of the world; The Lone Star State.

TEXAS STORMS CAUSE EPIC DROP IN U.S. OIL PRODUCTION

While some blame the extreme weather for all these problems the reality is that this is an epic failure of green energy. Frozen wind turbines and useless solar panels are bringing down the state's power grid in America’s number one gas and oil-producing state. That is an irony that should not go unnoticed by the Biden administration and their push to rid the country of fossil fuels.

At the same time, oil prices have climbed to $61 per barrel, higher costs that will trickle down to every American.

Texas in its desire to go greener gambled on an overreliance of wind and solar. Texas became the top U.S. state in wind generation power and became second in solar generation. In a way, Texas moved in that direction because of guilt and because they spent over 100 years providing the country and the world with reliable power sources of energy and natural gas. They decided to risk their grid to sources of energy that were not as reliable and fail to create adequate safety valves in extreme conditions.

While Texas was better prepared for extreme heat, they were woefully underprepared for extreme cold.  In this recent artic blast, over 50% of the wind turbine capacity was shut down. Natural gas lines froze because there is no power to keep them warm. Oil wells had to be being shuttered and refineries had to be closed.

GAS PRICES COULD INCREASE AS MUCH AS 20 CENTS PER GALLON AS WEATHER SHUTTERS TEXAS OIL REFINERIES

Part of that preparation should include more pipelines and more ways to switch to natural gas. Yet that is something that might become impossible in Biden's clean energy plan. Yet what we are seeing in Texas could happen in states across the country if we start to implement Biden's clean energy plan.

The Biden administration must weigh the consequences of their clean energy dreams before they arbitrarily cut back on fossil fuels.  Especially the fuel that is the cleanest fossil fuel and the fuel that proved to be the most reliable during the crisis: natural gas.

Those who oppose fracking or are banning natural gas power in their cities should consider that. Too much emphasis on renewable fuels puts people's lives at risk. Texas is just an example of what will happen across the county if the extreme Biden's clean energy plan is implemented.

This nightmare is one that will be repeated unless we take seriously the reliability of not only our power grid but the need for oil and gas and more pipelines. If we are not prepared to handle this cold what will happen when we start charging millions of millions of electric cars.

It's time to have a serious plan that assesses climate concern but bases our decisions in the real world where energy decisions have more of a direct impact on people’s daily lives.

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Phil Flynn is senior energy analyst at The PRICE Futures Group and a Fox Business Network contributor. He is one of the world's leading market analysts, providing individual investors, professional traders, and institutions with up-to-the-minute investment and risk management insight into global petroleum, gasoline, and energy markets. His precise and timely forecasts have come to be in great demand by industry and media worldwide and his impressive career goes back almost three decades, gaining attention with his market calls and energetic personality as writer of The Energy Report. You can contact Phil by phone at (888) 264-5665 or by email at [email protected].

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