Almost three years since the deadly Texas blackout of 2021, a panel of judges from the First Court of Appeals in Houston has ruled that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the crisis. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.

The decision seems likely to protect the companies from lawsuits filed against them after the blackout. It leaves the families of those who died unsure where next to seek justice.

In February of 2021, a massive cold front descended on Texas, bringing days of ice and snow. The weather increased energy demand and reduced supply by freezing up power generators and the state’s natural gas supply chain. This led to a blackout that left millions of Texans without energy for nearly a week.

The state has said almost 250 people died because of the winter storm and blackout, but some analysts call that a serious undercount.

  • just_change_it@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Better pull up those bootstraps and start finding your own individual source of power. Maybe you can drill for oil in your backyard?

    • hobbicus@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Then once you strike oil find out you never owned the mineral rights to begin with ¯\(ツ)

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      During the storm one iirc Republican Texan politician said something along the lines of “you people need to solve it yourself”. They bought hard into private market solves everything.