Does it count as a national emergency if it starts to happen every year or two? At what point do we accept that energy companies will always neglect their infrastructure and the government has to actually invest in fixing it?
- hurricanes hit eastern states every year and the US taxpayer helps - wildfires hit western states every year and the US taxpayer helps - tornadoes hit the mid-western states every year and the US taxpayer helps
It can be a state emergency. I don't see why we should be stepping in to fix something for Texas that they absolutely can fix, but are choosing not to.
After deregulation, the Texas power companies were motivated purely by profit, which meant they got rid of extra capacity, winterization mechanisms, etc because all those things cost them money. A grid that runs right on the hairy edge of failure works great as long as everything happens as planned, but eventually a February 2021 comes along.
Some penalties for lack of winterization have supposedly been put back in place, but knowing how Texas politics works I expect most of the power companies have figured out ways around them.