Do Texas conservatives really want energy competition? | Opinion
, would promote a market design favored by oil, natural gas and manufacturing interests.
Patrick is right on one point. The winter storm of 2021 revealed critical vulnerabilities in the Texas power grid and underscored the need to deliver consistent, affordable energy in a system that withstands peak use and bad weather. But Patrick is wrong to characterize these Senate bills as a reasonable balancing of energy interests.
Texas leads the nation in fossil-fuel production, and wind and solar are solid contributors to the state’s energy mix. But when Patrick unveiled his legislative priorities late last year, he made no secret of his inclination to favor oil and gas investments. He dismissed theas a “long-range plan” and called renewable energy “a luxury.”
And before that, he pressed for public agencies in Texas to stop doing business with investment firms deemed hostile to oil and gas. In the wake of the change, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, the state’s biggest pension fund, dumped more than $500 million worth of investments in asset manager BlackRock. It also shed smaller positions in several other financial institutions.
Conservatives would be wise to remember that allowing oil and gas and renewable energy sources to compete is the bedrock of energy markets in Texas. Bills favoring the oil and gas industry at the expense of renewables undermine economic fairness in shortsighted ways that the state and consumers will eventually regret.
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