Politics

Gov. Abbott Blames Renewable Energy For Power Outages

Wind and solar only make up about 10 percent of the state's power grid.

Gov. Abbott Blames Renewable Energy For Power Outages
David J. Phillip / AP
SMS

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is defending comments he made in an interview on Fox News earlier this week.

Speaking to Sean Hannity Tuesday, he criticized the Green New Deal and blamed the outages in Texas on solar and wind energy. His comments contradict what his own energy department told The Washington Post that the majority of the energy losses happened because the systems were not winterized. That includes fossil fuel pipelines.

Wind and solar only make up about 10 percent of the state's power grid. Abbott tried to clarify his comments last night.

"What I made clear was the fact that if we relied solely upon green energy, that would be a challenge," said Abbott. "But in Texas, we do not rely solely upon green energy. We have access to all sources of energy."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York introduced the Green New Deal into Congress. She fired back at Abbott's claims and said the infrastructure in Texas is what happens when you don't pursue a Green New Deal.