Perhaps it goes without saying but producing quality journalism isn't cheap. Last week's storm brought about some of the coldest temperatures the state has seen in decades. Prior to joining NiSource, Mr. Vegas held a variety of senior executive positions with American Electric Power (AEP), including President and Chief Operating Officer of AEP Ohio, President and Chief Operating Officer of AEP Texas, and Vice President and Chief Information Officer of AEP. If you live outside of those, as most Texans do, you were forced to play a grim version of Russian Roulette with your power and water supply if you could get either. Demand statewide surged as every county got blasted, starting Friday to Saturday. ERCOT Vice Chair Peter Cramton was listed as an economics professor at the University of Cologne in Germany and at the University of Maryland, the website biography said. We are one of the worlds fastest growing Member of Reliability & Markets Committee, Member of Human Resources & Governance Committee. 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. }); She was elected as chair of the board only days before the power outage. Three Conservative Supreme Court Justices Under Investigation for Ethics, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Board of Directors - Electric Reliability Council of Texas MEAWW is an initialism for Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide. Governor Greg Abbott appointed Peter Lake to serve as Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas on April 12, 2021, for a term set to expire on September 1, 2023. State officials criticized ERCOT amid the blackouts and state lawmakers scheduled legislative hearings for Thursday and Friday to discuss the outages. Now, board members are appointed by a nominating committee made up of current members. WVSF horse, buggy parade 'postponed' | News, Sports, Jobs - The That's part of the story but it's not the total story," Turner said Thursday on MSNBC. pg.acq.push(function() { In Abilene we have no water, no power and elderly neighbors who are suffering. All board members are Texas residents. The questions included asking for information on what preparations were in place, how notice was given and what caused the sustained power loss. ga('ads.send', { For the latest and best fromChron,sign up for our daily newsletter here. Theyre gone. Texas power outages: 5 things to know about ERCOT, the nonprofit that Their resignations will be effective at the end of the board's Wednesday meeting. Commissioner Talberg previously served as an analyst at the Michigan Public Service Commission, managed enforcement and contested cases at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and advised commissioners at the Public Utility Commission of Texas. He said ERCOT is currently forecasting demand for power to reach. ERCOT announces search for new board of directors after mass - Chron That entity already has political appointees: all three board members are appointed by the governor. }); As Texas reels from a deadly snowstorm, ERCOT, the state's power grid operator that serves over 26 million Texans, is aiming to avoid a complete blackout by cutting down the power supply to consumers. Experts, but not people affected by the failure. We appreciate it! hitType: 'event', Raymond Hepper was listed as a retired general counsel and officer for a New England company. Michigan Public Service Commission First published on February 23, 2021 / 7:07 PM. Five ERCOT Board Members Don't Live In Texas, Two State - KERA As ERCOT is a 501 (c) (4), a board of directors is the governing force. A social media page lists her home as Toronto. } Abbott's claim on Fox News | VERIFY. Threats are wrong and should be reported to law enforcement, Leach told WFAA. Prior to ERCOT, Mr. Vegas was Executive Vice President of NiSource, and Group President of NiSource Utilities, where he oversaw NiSources electric and gas business segments and championed outstanding service to NiSource customers. "Obviously the down side is they're political appointees looking after the political interests of those that appoint them.". The board has been criticized for last week's mass power outage during a winter storm that has claimed the lives of dozens of Texans. And, that we have millions whove never dealt with cold and ice like this before, either because theyre new to the state or because this is a historic storm? . Vice . The ERCOT board of directors elected her as the chair on February 9, 2021, an ERCOT press release said. Mr. Swainsons career includes extensive experience in software, technology, and business management. ERCOT selection committee appoints two new members to board of directors The next ERCOT board meeting is currently . Feb. 23, 2021 }); Unaffiliated members cannot have ties to businesses ERCOT oversees. Power went out for millions of Texans several days ago and is only now being restored piecemeal. eventAction: 'click_ads' eventAction: 'render' Bulger lives inWheaton, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and Hepper lives in Maine. The five members, who do not live in Texas, include even the chairwoman and the vice-chairman reported Austin American Statesman . Anesetti-Parra did not sign the joint letter, but a notice sent from ERCOT to the Public Utility Commission noted her intention to resign from the board. He is the author ofHubbles Revelations: The Amazing Time Machine and Its Most Important Discoveries. According to the Council's website, the 16-member Board of Directors oversees ERCOT operations. Then we all, 29 million of us thanks to population growth that none of our infrastructure has been able to keep up with (thanks, California! From 2013-2019 she served on the NARUC Committee on Telecommunications and on the board of directors of the Organization of MISO States, of which she was President in 2016. hitType: 'event', As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on members to help keep our stories free and our events open to the public. Ms. Talberg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental and Natural Resources Policy Studies from Michigan State University and a masters degree in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin. Politicians previously have not had such direct involvement in the ERCOT board, whose members are currently selected in a variety of ways. document.querySelector("#ads").addEventListener('click',function(){ He most recently served as President and CEO of Dynegy Inc. from 2011 through 2018. Three PUC commissioners, including the chair, are appointed by the governor of Texas. State Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston released a letter urging the Public Utility Commission of Texas to approve only residents of Texas to fill ERCOT board vacancies. Another provision of both chambers' legislation requires all board members to reside in Texas, which would prevent experts like Cramton from sitting on the ERCOT board in the future. The board members were not all immediately available for comment or referred reporters to their resignation letters. Sally Talberg. 0:00. hitType: 'event', BUCKHANNON The West Virginnia Strawberry Festival Board of Directors has announced the postponement of the festival's annual horse and carriage parade. The 11-member board consists of eight directors who are appointed by the State of Texas ERCOT Board Selection Committee and who are required by law to not have fiduciary duty or assets in the electricity market for the ERCOT Region, and three ex officio members: the CEO of ERCOT (non-voting), the Public Counsel of the Office of Public Utility Counsel (OPUC), and the Chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) (non-voting). The board oversees major functions of ERCOT: open access to the transmission grid on nondiscriminatory terms, system reliability and adequacy, and the retail and wholesale electric markets. It just cannot be that way here in the Lone Star State.. Leach acknowledged that Texas has been through an unprecedented weather event with all 254 Texas counties under a disaster emergency declaration. The Texas House has already approved House Bill 10, which would remove independent outside voices on the ERCOT board and replace them with five political appointees. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), The heads of ERCOT's board of directors don't even live in Texas. Texas Electric Board Members Live WHERE? - PJ Media Dr. Aguilar has a combined understanding of both multi-party negotiations and complex financing structures and on-the-ground challenges of engineering and construction management and safety. The board directors wrote that before they resign, they will launch the review of the power crisis. The storm was part of an icy blast across the Deep South that resulted in more than 80 deaths, roughly half of which were in Texas. Texas didn't learn its lesson | Experts say little has changed with winterization of generators since blackouts of 2011. None of them lives in Texas. Three other ERCOT board members also appear to live thousands of miles from Texas. businesses never again experience power outages on this magnitude, she wrote. On Monday, the Senate Jurisprudence Committee took up - but did not vote on - HB 10, the lower chamber's high-priority legislation to change ERCOT's governance. Thats a huge area, larger than many whole states, over which most people wont be using a lot of power, so power could be surged to the cold area, which is also larger than many whole states, and which is not as heavily populated. Ms. England has also served in executive roles in engineering and technology with Texas Instruments, Inc., including Vice President and General Manager of the companys Radio Frequency Identification Division. Public Counsel for Office of Public Utility Counsel. There are a total of 16 members on ERCOT's board, which appoints officers who. RELATED: You've heard a lot about ERCOT lately. The MPSC provides Michigan residents access to energy and telecommunications services, its website says. Daniel Enrquez Vidaa - President & Member of the Board of Directors She began serving as an unaffiliated director on the board January 1, 2021. hitType: 'event', But to intentionally hide the names of the individuals who are charged with making decisions on our behalf is wrong and misguided and possibly unlawful.. Cramton, a professor of economics at the University of Cologne and the University of Maryland, lives in Germany. Top Salaries Paid to ERCOT Officials Before Texas Storm Talberg has sat on various state, regional and national boards and committees involving electricity, natural gas, oil, infrastructure and telecommunications issues. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Many of the out-of-state board members are experts in the electricity field, but resigned following criticism of the agency's oversight of the state's main power grid during the storm that left millions of Texans without electricity for days in freezing temperatures. Leach called it completely ridiculous and unacceptable that she lives in Texas. Performance meets portability with Apple's 2023 MacBook Pro. Shane Jenkins, the WVSF board president, said last year's parade "simply did not live up to our standards" due to a "decline in participation." Jenkins wrote the following in a social media post [] As per the ERCOT official website, chairwoman Sally Talberg, who was a former state utility regulator, is now a resident of Michigan. The ERCOT Board elected Talbert and Cramton to serve in their leadership positions just over a week ago on Feb. 9. AUSTIN, Texas The Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced in a Tuesday notice to the Public Utility Commission of Texas that four of its board members will resign effective Wednesday,. }); ERCOT manages the flow of power to more than 26 million Texas residents, its website says. What exactly is it? I wonder how many people died in the last 2 days because of world class ERCOT? one person wrote on Twitter. May 2020 - Present3 years 1 month. pg.acq.push(function() { Amid the crisis situation, it has come to light that five of the fifteen officials serving on ERCOT's (The Electric Reliability Council of Texas) board of directors are non-natives of the state itself. Craig Ivey, who was slated to fill a vacant unaffiliated director position, withdrew his application. ERCOT Will Restore Board of Directors' Names to Website - Newsweek Thanks to everyone who has been conserving today. None of the appointees would be required to be electricity experts. That part of the state gets hurricanes but it doesnt usually get ice and snowstorms. [53] We would like to congratulate Sally and Peter on their new roles on the ERCOT Board, and look forward to working with them on addressing the challenges of an evolving grid in the years to come, said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness. That doesn't . Before his appointment, Mr. Lake served as Chairman of the Texas Water Development Board, the states primary water planning and financing agency charged with leading efforts to ensure a secure water future for Texans. Now, board members are appointed by a nominating committee made up of current members. Places with much colder climates than Texas use wind turbines with no issues. 5 members of ERCOT board of directors live outside Texas - KHOU ga('ads.send', { }); ERCOT selection committee appoints two new members to board of directors The selections announced Monday afternoon are the first appointees picked to fill vacancies left after February's. Were beyond this is not a good look territory, well beyond. While ERCOTs operators have managed to avoid a total collapse of the grid, the significant and sustained loss of electricity generation and unprecedented demand have led to millions of Texas households and businesses without power for days during extreme cold temperatures, she wrote. "We want what is best for ERCOT and Texas.". On Monday, Schwertner argued in favor of HB 10 and asked for his colleagues' support. DALLAS A third of the board of directors that operate the states electrical grid do not appear to live in Texas, and their performance in wake of widespread outages has led to a Dallas-area lawmakers call for change. Talberg, who lives in Michigan, and Cramton, who lives in California,were elected to their posts as board chair and vice chair, respectively, on Feb. 9during a board meeting where leaders at the electric grid operator spent just 40 seconds discussing the upcoming storm. Im frustrated and cannot believe that the board chair of our leading energy decision maker doesnt even live in Texas, but lives in Michigan. "Further, many legislators were frustrated by the lack of accountability on the board, especially regarding the members of the board that would be unaffiliated members.". Did I mention that most Texas homes are engineered for extreme summer heat, not arctic winters? When the intense storm hit the state, major generation units failed,and operators at ERCOT ordered a series of rolling blackouts intended to protect the electric grid from catastrophic failure. Subchapter M Default Balance Securitization, Subchapter N Uplift Balance Securitization, Proposed Brazos and ERCOT Bankruptcy Settlement, Independent Market Information System Registered Entity, Transmission/Distribution Service Providers, Access registration forms and other documents >, Market Coordination Team for Texas SET Version Releases, Texas Data Transport and MarkeTrak Systems Working Group, Texas Standard Electronic Transaction Working Group, Performance, Disturbance, Compliance Working Group, Planning Geomagnetic Disturbance Task Force, Protocol Interpretation Request Submission Process, Texas Standard Electronic Transaction Guides, Aggregate Distributed Energy Resource (ADER) Pilot Project, 30-Minute Emergency Response Service - Completed, Fast Responding Regulation Service - Completed, Weather-Sensitive Emergency Response Service - Completed, Other Binding Documents Revision Requests, Backcasted (Actual) Load Profiles - Historical, TDSP Distribution Loss Factors - Methodology, IDR Protocol Compliance Verification - Historical, Resource Integration & Ongoing Operations Resource Services. BRIGHT SIDE? The Texas Railroad Commission regulates oil and gas production in the Lone Star State, which is the nations top energy-producing state. There will be loads of economic questions attached to that one. Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News. A spokesperson tells ABC13 the board and senior leaders were getting threats because of the anger over the widespread power outages. Leach said he has begun drafting legislation to prohibit non-Texans from serving on the ERCOT Board. texas snowstorm ercot power outage board of directors governor greg Among the conversations to be had are how much the state should depend on wind power, which did collapse as demand surged but has bounced back, and if were going to depend on wind then why dont we winterize the windmills in West Texas? @ERCOT_ISO Board of Directors elected newcomer @SallyTalberg to a three-year term as its chair and six-year veteran Peter Cramton as its vice chair, she wrote. }); Records indicate he now lives in Maine. You can hear that conversation here. },false) Sally Talberg, chairwoman of ERCOT's board of directors, is a former state utility regulator who lives in Michigan, according to her biography on ERCOT's website. The thought of some Californian voting on our energy market doesnt sit well. He lives in Wheaton, a suburb in Chicago, Illinois. READ MORE: 6th ERCOT board member resigns during emergency meeting on winter storm outage. Mr. Flores has also served in board governance and senior leadership positions for numerous public and private entities. the chair lives in Michigan and the vice chair is an economics prof in Cologne Germany. reporters on a platform technologically tailored to meet the needs of the modern reader. Whether you lost power or not, Texans could see higher bills, No, wind and solar power are not the main causes of Texas' power outages despite Gov. Page not found Instagram Storms | Scientists weigh in with 2023 hurricane season forecastsBills | How Houston can save on energy as temperatures riseSweat | Houston is in for one hell of a hot spring, experts warnWatch | Drone footage captures formation of huge storm over Texas. It is critical to learn from this experience and bring about the necessary organizational, market, planning, and oversight changes to protect Texans., READ NEXT: Kathryn Adams Limbaugh Announced Husband Died on The Rush Limbaugh Show, Sally Talberg, ERCOT Chairwoman: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. In this capacity, he led the firms market research initiatives and directed the development of its first automated trading programs. Abigail Rosenthal is a writer and editor based in Austin. 61 likes, 10 comments - Simply Pure Vegan Caf (@simplypurelv) on Instagram: "Repost from @chefstaceydougan This has been a big topic this week and I am here for . Lexi Chuchill and Kiah Collier contributed to this report. Five board members, including the chair, who do not live in Texas will resign. Raymond Hopper is another non-native member who lives in Auburn, Maine. DALLAS A third of the board of directors that operate the state's electrical grid do not appear to live in Texas, and their performance in wake of widespread outages has led to a. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans - and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('impressionViewable', function(event) { window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { ERCOT manages the flow of electric power in Texas and is responsible for ensuring the one independent power grid in the country is up and running as it should. the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network. pg.acq.push(function() { A massive blackout in Texas shined a spotlight on a little-known policy: ERCOT officers and directors are not required to live in Texas, and Chairwoman Sally Talberg lives in Michigan. Ron Jenkins/Getty Giving an update on February 17, ERCOT said they have been. Over 4.3 million people are now out of power in Texas. People who are making literally life and death decisions on behalf of our families and our communities dont even live in the state of Texas, Leach said. Another will be, should Texas fully embrace nuclear? He holds a bachelors degree in applied science from the University of British Columbia. Mr. Foster holds a degree in accounting from Baylor University. Its not an issue with the turbines outright. In her law practice, she advised leading companies on complex energy, regulatory, and corporate governance matters. Greg Abbott had called on ERCOT board members to resign in the aftermath of the crisis and said in a statement Tuesday that he welcomes their resignations, promising to investigate the grid operator. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. New: Sally Talberg, @ERCOT_ISO board chair, has called for an "urgent meeting" on Feb. 24 to obtain "an initial accounting of details" that led to power outages across state + "ERCOT's preparations and decisions. Experts, but not people affected by the failure. RELATED: How will my electric bill be impacted? }) }); Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said he will file legislation requiring the officers and directors of ERCOT to live in Texas, referencing Talberg living in Michigan. Several agencies may have to consider some new measures and mandates. And Cramton could not be reached for comment. Powered by. Demi Moore has not left Bruce Willis's side and is doing everything to make his 'last moments happy', 'Stop it!' #ERCOT set a new winter peak demand record this evening, reaching 69,150 MW between 6 and 7 p.m. eventAction: 'click_image_ads' State officials confirmed that they pulled down the photos and biographies of ERCOT board members from the website due to possible safety threats. ERCOT board members who live outside of Texas resign - KHOU Four members of Texas power grid operator ERCOT's board to resign in Texas boy, 3, accidentally shoots himself dead on his birthday using gun that fell from family members pocket, Texas teacher who asked Trump to deport illegal students from Mexico at her school fired over racially insensitive tweet. Innovation Studio. Crews have been hampered even getting to them due to the widespread ice. How that hasnt come up as a glaring conflict of interest before now is a head-scratcher. about a third of its members dont even live in Texas, Hubbles Revelations: The Amazing Time Machine and Its Most Important Discoveries, Hubble's Revelations: The Amazing Time Machine and Its Most Important Discoveries, WATCH: Biden's Latest Alzheimer's Moment Is Actually Very Sad, Vivek Ramaswamy Schools Chuck Todd on the Evils of Transitioning Children, Okay, Hold Everything: Tucker Carlson WASN'T Fired, Says Im Still Employed by Fox, The Fox News Feud With Tucker Carlson Is About to Get Ugly, An Amazing Coincidence!
