Rick Perry: ‘Texans would be without electricity for longer’ to ‘keep the federal government out’

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Wednesday suggested that the people of the Lone Star State would rather spend more time without electricity than see increased federal involvement in their state. 

“Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business,” a blog post on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s website quoted Perry as saying, though the post says Perry’s remark was made “partly rhetorically.“

The remark from the former U.S. Energy Secretary comes as many parts of Texas remain without electricity amid a record-setting winter storm. More than a dozen deaths have been linked to the crisis. 

The post on McCarthy’s website warns that observers on the left might see the situation as an “opportunity to expand their top-down, radical proposals.”

Texas’s power grid isn’t subject to regulations from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, because it doesn’t cross state lines. 

In recent days, the grid’s isolation has come under some scrutiny amid the power outages. 

The state’s power sources, including nuclear, coal, natural gas and wind have had difficulties performing in the lower temperatures.

A senior director at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas told Bloomberg that wind shutdowns were responsible for between 3.6 and 4.5 gigawatts of the total 30 to 35 gigawatts worth of outages.