Texas Winter-storm Discussion Paper
Please follow these instructions. Write your responses on a Microsoft Word document. Then transfer them to the space provided on the assignment submission page. You don’t need to make this a formal essay with footnotes, or endnotes or a title page.
You can make this an informal essay and simply write your answers to these questions in paragraph form providing an informal citation (In the Texas Tribune article of 22 February 21 on “How Texas failed repeatedly to protect its power grid from extreme weather”. . .According to Rice history professor Julie Cohn discussing Texas’ unique single state power grid”). Try to use your 1,200-word count wisely. You must write at least a minimum of 1,200 words in your essay. You may go beyond but not under 1,200 words. Please put the word count of your essay at the end of your paper. (If you use MS Word as your word processor, the word count can be found at the bottom of the Word screen to the right of the page numbers.)
In writing your paper, explain your responses. You don’t need any other articles or research. Limit yourself to the six articles I’ve provided. Use all of these articles at least once in your essay. Use your best grammar, syntax, spelling sentence structure, and language usage. If you quote an article, make sure you use quotation marks and simply reference your source. You don’t have to use any sources not stated here in the instructions.
Address the following questions thoroughly using the sources provided:
- Detail some of happened during the unexpected and deadly Texas winter storm that struck Texas, including Houston and South Texas costing the state millions of dollars in damage and, according to some estimates, from the low 100s to up to 200 deaths of people from the single-digit freezing temperatures and massive state-wide power outages in homes throughout Texas.
- How long did the winter storm last in Texas? How did many of the people die and how did they die as a result of the winter storm in Texas?
- Describe the unique nature of the Texas power grid, its benefits and its disadvantages as demonstrated in the February Texas is the only state in the union that has its own power grid. All the other states are part of regional power grids which share power with fellow member states when a power grid failure occurs in another state or states. Discuss why it failed and the damage that failure caused in Texas.
- What is being done by the government of Texas to prevent this kind of disaster from ever happening again?
- Briefly describe how the storm and the power outages affected you and your family.
Links to articles
“Texas seceded from the nation’s power grid. Now it’s paying the price:
The state’s unique electrical system worked well for decades — but it wasn’t ready for unexpected cold.” By Julie A. Cohn, The Washington Post, 17 February 2021:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/17/texas-power-winter-storm/
“Texas House targets power grid flaw that cut electricity to natural gas facilities and worsened February blackouts,” by Sami Sperber, The Texas Tribune, 19 April 2021: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/19/texas-power-grid-failure-legislature-natural-gas/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=email&utm_medium=social (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
“Feb 15-20, North American winter storm,” Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_15%E2%80%9320,_2021_North_American_winter_storm (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
“2021 Texas power crisis,” Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
“At least 111 people died in Texas during winter storm, most from hypothermia,” by Shawn Mulcahy, 25 March 2021, The Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/25/texas-deaths-winter-storm/ (Links to an external site.