At the same time, parts of Louisiana still have no electricity (but they don’t have to)-RedState

With everything else happening, it is sometimes difficult to remember that Southeastern Louisiana is still largely without electricity, and in some cases, there will be no electricity for a while. Of course, unless you live in the state.

If you live in Louisiana, you will see an increase in fuel prices. There are severe natural gas shortages across the state (not just in areas hit by the storm). People are fleeing via highways and interstates and are told”Haven’t come back yet“. Many oil refineries and processing plants Closed before the storm, Which will only make the problem worse.

However, although the natural gas crisis spreads across the state, the power crisis in the southeastern part of the state is even more serious.

Entergy is one of the largest energy suppliers in the state, a company at the forefront of the crisis, and they are trying to solve the problem at a snail speed.However, the problems they face are extremely challenging And may be self-inflicted,according to Washington post.

When Hurricane Ida struck, hundreds of substations collapsed, and a 400-foot transmission tower on the banks of the Mississippi River collapsed-a sign to some Louisianans that the energy monopoly did not act fast enough to prevent extreme situations The weather is hitting the area more and more frequently.

Entergy, an electricity supplier to 3 million customers in the Gulf region, has been fined for delaying maintenance of its aging infrastructure in the past decade and has been criticized for being too slow to strengthen the grid in severe weather. The company rejected calls for increased investment in renewable energy, which climate advocates see as a way to prevent widespread blackouts.

“I’m just angry, it didn’t happen,” said Monique Harden, a long-time resident of New Orleans, whose non-profit organization Shennan Environmental Justice Center pushed Entergy to increase investment in solar energy. “Our power system may have built-in redundancy.”

When Ida struck Louisiana, New Orleans’ repaired dikes stood upright, preventing the extreme flooding that made Hurricane Katrina so destructive. However, heavy rains and high winds caused extensive damage to the power grid in the region, causing more than 1 million people to lose power. Entergy, which serves the vast majority of outage customers, said on Monday that it may take several weeks to restore power to the entire region because the storm destroyed all eight transmission lines from the power plant to New Orleans.

The company tried to reassure people in the affected areas by making a list of locations and timetables where these places will receive electricity. Unfortunately, customers seem to want this to be more than just Entergy’s optimism.

Confusingly, Entergy will take the initiative to make a list of communities that will be powered up within 24 hours and stop delivery altogether.

— Jeff Asher (@Crimealytics) September 5, 2021

My neighbor and I just received a text message @EntergyNOLA Said that the restoration work in our region has been completed, and our power should be restored. no.

-Gordon Russell (@GordonRussell1) September 6, 2021

However, it seems that not all responsibilities can or should be transferred to Entergy. Entergy has been fighting the city of New Orleans, demanding that they, as a company, be as close to zero carbon emissions as possible.

In May of this year, the city council passed a “combined renewable and clean standard” that requires Entergy to achieve certain goals of stopping the use of fossil fuels by 2050 and significantly reducing carbon emissions. Advocates of renewable energy say this effort has failed to achieve its ambitious urban goals to deal with more frequent and violent storms caused by climate change.

A coalition of environmental organizations wants to ask Entergy to invest more actively in solar power, battery power, and microgrids in order to power parts of the city in the event of natural disasters. Advocates criticized the committee for not accepting their proposed restrictions on nuclear energy.

In response to the call of climate activists, the company said: “Continue to adhere to a 100% renewable energy-powered grid as a viable solution to combat climate change. When a large number of scientific and industry studies show that this is not the case, it is intellectually equivalent to denying climate change. The presence.”

Those environmentalists, Washington post The article went on to say that it was defeated in a lawsuit that prevented the opening of a US$210 million natural gas power plant. However, Entergy did not start and run the facility before Ida.

To be honest, with everything else happening, Louisiana certainly deserves better than a meaningless political fight between energy companies and radical groups. It should be better than aging infrastructure and the usual corrupt processes that award companies contracts or let them slip away when they break the rules.

If we are really honest with all of this, then one of the biggest contributors to the energy problem is not only Louisiana, but also California, New York and other places. When you talk about nuclear energy, these environmental groups will definitely lose their minds. Electricity-although it is the cleanest and safest form of energy.

Nuclear power plants in operation mean that New Orleans and the surrounding areas of southeastern Louisiana can restore electricity more quickly. This means that California and New York do not have to take turns to cut out power when extinguishing fires or experiencing extreme heat waves.

This also means that Texas does not have to deal with a statewide power crisis during the unexpected freeze.

A large part of the state still has no power. But if the government and energy suppliers remember their stakes in times of crisis, they don’t have to.