I work in the electric industry. and I'm trying to get my mind around a 'fix'.

And I cant find any, short of a government takeover of the electric grid (which I'm sure some here would advocate)
Any regulation will get watered down or implemented badly (does Ohio need The same freeze protection as Texas ?)
All of these companies are profit motivated, so they wont hire more people or install more systems unless legally compelled to do so.

I'm not sure how natural gas suppliers were doing, but when was the last time anyone advocated for or against a natural gas transmission line ? how successful are those ? (even on a short/local scale)

Every state/grid operator/Utility has been closing coal plants as quickly as they can. And while wind/solar/NG has been building, the construction rates have not been equal. Grid operators ("ERCOT" in Texas and PJM where I live) have a mandate to not let utilities close down too many plants at once. How many 'extra' coal/NG plants do you want to keep open just in case we get another winter like this one ? or better yet:

How many people are coal plant emissions killing ?
vs.
people that would otherwise have died from no electricity in Texas ?
vs
people that just die during their tree trimming jobs (the large number of tree trimmers is born of a mandate that we avoid another 2003 Northeast Blackout)

I dont have any good answers.

I look forward to seeing numbers for TX - Maybe Utilities and Grid operators will have good science to back up if they want to ask their states for more money (for people, equipment, heat tracing....)

-John

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