ERCOT says Texas is ready and prepared for Winter Storm Landon

AUSTIN, Texas - With the frigid temperatures and wintry precipitation headed toward Central Texas, emergency officials are urging people to be ready. At the same time, state agencies are trying to reassure people that they are prepared for the storm—from the power grid to the roads.

Gov. Greg Abbott held a press conference Wednesday, flanked by officials from more than a dozen agencies, including ERCOT.

"We are ready for this storm. We’ll be prepared for this," said ERCOT’s interim president and CEO Brad Jones.

Those confident words came a day out from what could be the most consequential winter weather event since last February’s storm and resulting power outages that led to the deaths of more than 200 people.

"We have been working to improve communications, to make sure that during the storm you get one message from the folks in the industry and not several," said Jones.

ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas insisted Tuesday that all power generators have been inspected, and additional power has been brought online to make sure the lights stay on.

"We know that the reforms we have put in place over the past several months ensure that our grid is ready for this winter weather event. We will continue operating the grid in a conservative fashion, so we have more supply sooner rather than later," said PUC chair Peter Lake.  

Texas Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright insisted natural gas plants are winterized as well, so fuel will have no problem getting to the power plants.

"We've introduced ways of not having things freeze up, like methanol heating blankets, heat tracing lines, those kinds of things."

Abbott says the greatest power demand will likely come Friday morning. He warned of outages unrelated to the grid, such as from downed trees—but, when pressed on the issue, Abbott said, "No one can guarantee that there won’t be a ‘load shed event.’"

On the roads, TxDOT says they are prepared. Crews have been pre-treating roads since Sunday, and on Tuesday treated roads that were impacted by Monday’s rain.

"Despite efforts with pre-treatment, we cannot guarantee 100 percent that roads won’t have unsafe conditions on them. And so it’s very important that motorists are aware of those conditions, drive to those conditions, slow down, and if you don’t have to get out when the roads are icy or snow covered, please don’t," said TxDOT executive director Mark Williams.

Officials are also urging Texans to plan ahead—and protect the "4 P’s": people, pets, pipes and plants.

"This is going to be a very cold event and the wind chills could be deadly. We want to make sure that anybody who’s in the way has a warm place to go," said Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd.

For real-time updates on driving conditions, visit drivetexas.org.

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