Grand Prairie mayor furious with Atmos as home shuts down

Mayor Ron Jensen said, “The only problem in Texas is the system that can’t supply eight hours of gas.

GRAND PRIRIE, Texas — Low, or sometimes no, gas pressure has left Texas residents struggling to heat their homes during dangerously cold months as the pre-Christmas Arctic blast hit the state. was not possible.

Neither Atmos Energy nor the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the gas industry, confirmed the number of homes without gas service.

They only said that the very high demand meant there was less pressure on customers in certain areas, but overall there were no gas supply issues.

WFAA is in Little Elm, Fort Worth, Arlington, and Grande Prairie experienced problems.

Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen said the Grand Peninsula and Westchester neighborhoods were hit by a severe power outage.

“Atmos told me, and I told my citizens – don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be more careful next time.”

Jensen said the Grand Peninsula lost three days of gas in the 2021 winter storms, and Atmos had begun a project to add power lines.

The project isn’t finished yet, but he said the company told him the homeowner wouldn’t suffer the same fate this time around.

“The cold front passed just as we were told, and within eight hours – eight blank hours – ten fire stations were out of gas,” he said.

The city has installed portable heaters to keep the water in tank trucks from freezing at two fire stations.

“There’s a problem with the system when the cold front passes and Texas’s only supplier can’t supply eight hours of gas,” Jensen said.

The 2021 storm forced the state’s electrical industry into transparency, but not the gas industry.

Doug Lewin, president of Stoic Energy and host of the Texas Power Podcast, said the gas industry is as opaque as it can be.

Starting in 2021, the Public Utilities Commission has set standards for power plants on how they perform in extreme weather.

“The standards are public. Everyone knows about it. They inspect all power plants. There are no exceptions,” Lewin said.

By contrast, he states: Also the power supply he doesn’t know what’s on the chain map. ”

“Not only is it not public, there is not even a legal exemption, so legislators don’t know what’s on that map. I was.

Jensen said he will bring the issue to Gov. Greg Abbott in January when the next legislative session begins in Austin.

“Obviously the city doesn’t have big enough sticks, so I’m going to get another one,” he said. “What if this doesn’t keep the heater running on gas? Oh.”

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/grand-prairie-mayor-angry-atmos-gas-outages-kept-residents-from-heating-homes-deep-freeze/287-4d1550ca-169a-4de8-9f3b-9bb3dc1925c5 Grand Prairie mayor furious with Atmos as home shuts down

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