Oh sure, now Gov. Abbott goes squishy on promise that lights will stay on in winter storm

When Gov. Greg Abbott boldly declared a few months ago that the Texas electrical grid was fixed and guaranteed the lights would stay on this winter, it had all the markings of a politician getting out over his skis.

But we never expected he’d be hedging before a big cold front even arrives.

Abbott suggested Tuesday that, when the temperatures plunge and ice descends Wednesday night, his promise might not hold for parts of the state. He noted that ice or trees damaged by it could bring down power lines, causing regional outages.

He also stepped back from his iron-clad promise last fall, when he told an Austin TV station: “I can guarantee the lights will stay on.” Now, the governor says: “No one can guarantee that there won’t be a load shed event,” meaning planned outages to protect the grid overall.

This is a mess of Abbott’s own making. The Republican governor erred in making such a strong initial vow. He has insisted, too, that everything necessary has been done to fix the power grid since 2021’s disaster. Fair or not, he’s on the hook for everything that follows.

Abbott expressed confidence Tuesday that the supply of natural gas — a key problem last year, when producers who hadn’t weatherized equipment couldn’t provide enough energy — will hold out.

In every storm, small regional outages happen, and some people may lose power for a while. It’s usually not part of a catastrophic grid collapse or even an indication that leaders failed to adequately plan for bad weather.

But when you’re shivering in your own house, you’re not so interested in the distinctions. By establishing the standard that he tried to walk back Tuesday, Abbott may have set himself up as the scapegoat for things over which he has no control.

Rival Beto O’Rourke will do everything he can to make it so. The likely Democratic nominee to take on Abbott plans a statewide tour starting Friday to commemorate last February’s debacle and promise changes. O’Rourke told the Editorial Board in an interview Monday, however, that he expects the power to stay on in Texas this week, despite what he views as inadequate reforms enacted last year.

If few Texans suffer this week, all may be forgotten by November — after all, we’ll be coming off five straight months of shorts and flip-flops.

But then, the grid has to hold up this summer, too. If there’s one thing Texans surely won’t tolerate, it’s no air conditioning in August.

This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 8:52 AM.