Texas missing chance to avert deadly blackouts, experts say

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Elzie Ford lost power in his freezing home for nearly a week during February’s catastrophic blackouts in Texas. By the time the 68-year-old widower was found on the floor, his hands were purpled with frostbite. He died the next day.

“The whole thing was a train wreck from day one, pretty much," said Larry Ford, his son.

Three months later, Texas' first pass at a fix is almost out of time: Only days remain for state lawmakers to make good on promised overhauls following one of the largest power outages in U.S. history, when more than 4 million customers lost heat after an artic blast buckled the state's electric grid.

But there are worries that booming Texas may come up short of stabilizing power and averting future blackouts. Concessions to oil and gas interests have reduced the scope of weatherization mandates. The threat of hefty fines would be left up to Texas regulators who've long been criticized as cozy with industry operators. Nothing is on the table that would add more power capacity to one of America's fastest-growing states.

There also remains a fading but continued effort to push more costs onto renewable energy generators, though frozen wind turbines and iced solar panels were not, as some GOP lawmakers have falsely claimed, a primary driver of the blackouts.

“It's hard to see how this provides full coverage of the winterization that we need,” said Daniel Cohan, a professor environmental engineering at Rice University.

Any changes to Texas' beleaguered power grid must reach Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's desk by Sunday.

Energy experts who have criticized Texas' previous lapses in protecting the grid say that despite shortcomings, there is progress in legislation that is likely to reach Abbott. They point to power plants that would be...