This article discusses the $2 billion transmission line construction project currently trying to get off the ground in Texas. The project follows the winter outages in Texas that left many struggling to stay warm during the polar storm, cost the state billions in infrastructure damages, and cost many Texas residents their lives.
This article focuses on the timeline of the project, which, though first conceived and advocated for 12 years ago, is expected to finish by the year 2026, at the earliest. Biden's current climate protection and renewable infrastructure plan, if it is to be successful, will take a 60% increase in transmission infrastructure in just 9 years. This means that the politics and bureaucracy of transmission construction will have to improve considerably if we are to deliver on Biden's plans.
The case is interesting for thinking about the "revelatory" power of catastrophes (Barrios 2017). Will the mobilization of concern for climate change, energy security, and resilience following from the most recent Texas energy tragedy be sufficient to motivate these necessary changes?
Edward Klump and Peter Behr, "What a $2B Texas project says about U.S. quest for CO2-free grid", contributed by James Adams, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 17 November 2021, accessed 25 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/what-2b-texas-project-says-about-us-quest-co2-free-grid
Critical Commentary
This article discusses the $2 billion transmission line construction project currently trying to get off the ground in Texas. The project follows the winter outages in Texas that left many struggling to stay warm during the polar storm, cost the state billions in infrastructure damages, and cost many Texas residents their lives.
This article focuses on the timeline of the project, which, though first conceived and advocated for 12 years ago, is expected to finish by the year 2026, at the earliest. Biden's current climate protection and renewable infrastructure plan, if it is to be successful, will take a 60% increase in transmission infrastructure in just 9 years. This means that the politics and bureaucracy of transmission construction will have to improve considerably if we are to deliver on Biden's plans.
The case is interesting for thinking about the "revelatory" power of catastrophes (Barrios 2017). Will the mobilization of concern for climate change, energy security, and resilience following from the most recent Texas energy tragedy be sufficient to motivate these necessary changes?