That might include sudden exceptional cold snaps, which could be a result of changing weather patterns in the Arctic. Utilities in the state were prompted to spend money to prepare infrastructure for unusually cold weather and opted not to do so. After Hurricane Sandy ripped up the Northeast, James Surowiecki wrote an essay for the New Yorker noting that the public tends to prefer spending money to fix messes over spending money to prevent the mess in the first place. So getting to zero risk is not possible — really, even if we had unlimited money,” Webb explained. “This is a broader problem than just in Texas,” she said, despite arguments that Texas's isolation from the national grid made its situation worse.

Source: Washington Post February 18, 2021 19:42 UTC