Texas attorney general welcomes power grid operator ERCOT's move to fire CEO

FILE PHOTO: Overhead power lines are seen during record-breaking temperatures in Houston, Texas
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
·1 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

(Reuters) - Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has fired its chief executive Bill Magness, Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Wednesday, adding that he welcomed the decision after February's deadly blackouts in Texas.

A mid-February storm temporarily knocked out up to half the state's generating plants, triggering outages that killed dozens and pushed power prices to 10 times the normal rate.

"ERCOT's decision to oust CEO Bill Magness signals accountability for the disaster that swept through our state two weeks ago," Paxton said in a statement on Twitter.

"(This step) offers the opportunity for new leadership that can more efficiently prepare and direct our state's resources when dangerous weather strikes," he added.

ERCOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Wednesday.

The deadly winter storm caused widespread blackouts across Texas, a state unaccustomed to extreme cold, knocking out power to more than 4 million people at its peak.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue)

Recommended Stories

  • 'WandaVision' Fans Are Calling This Episode Eight Quote About Grief the Defining Moment of the Series

    This one line from Vision has become a hot topic of conversation on social media.

  • Obey rules, PM warns, as Portugal turns corner in tough COVID-19 battle

    Portugal had its fewest COVID-19 patients in hospital in four months on Tuesday, data showed, as its prime minister warned that enforcing lockdown curbs remained essential in a country that topped global death rates a month ago. For several weeks in January, Portugal's health service stood on the brink of collapse as it recorded the world's worst surge in coronavirus infections and fatalities per capita. But a nationwide lockdown put in place on Jan. 15 has rapidly brought those figures down, and the 38 deaths and 691 new cases recorded on Tuesday were back on a par with averages logged in October, when businesses were still open.

  • Analysis: Fed may need more than words in next battle with markets

    February's bond selloff sent U.S. 10- and 30-year Treasury yields more than 30 basis points higher while governments from France to Australia saw their borrowing costs jump. Stock markets, which for years surfed the cheap-money wave, tumbled. The selloff was driven by concerns that adding enormous buckets of government spending to a fast-recovering U.S. economy would push inflation above the Federal Reserve's target sooner than anticipated.

  • Bryce Hall responds to the rumours he cheated on Addison Rae

    She posted several cryptic tweets over the weekend

  • Vikings release Kyle Rudolph: Three things to consider

    The Minnesota Vikings announced that it released tight end Kyle Rudolph on Tuesday. Here are three things to know.

  • Rooftop solar could kill—or save—the Texas electric grid

    After the winter storm that caused blackouts for millions of Texas households and left others with multi-thousand-dollar electric bills this month, the next upheaval in the state’s electricity market was easy to predict: people seeking independence from the state’s electrical grid by going solar. Online solar installation marketplace EnergySage reports new user registrations in Texas spiked 335% in the week after the storm. The solar industry has been here before.

  • Eager to act, Biden and Democrats leave Republicans behind

    President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress are jamming their agenda forward with a sense of urgency, an unapologetically partisan approach based on the calculation that it’s better to advance the giant COVID-19 rescue package and other priorities than waste time courting Republicans who may never compromise. The pandemic is driving the crush of legislative action, but so are the still-raw emotions from the U.S. Capitol siege as well as the hard lessons of the last time Democrats had the sweep of party control of Washington. Republicans are mounting blockades of Biden’s agenda just as they did during the devastating 2009 financial crisis with Barack Obama.

  • IG faults Elaine Chao at Transportation over ethics concerns

    The Transportation Department’s watchdog asked the Justice Department to criminally investigate Elaine Chao late last year over concerns that she misused her office when she was transportation secretary under President Donald Trump but was rebuffed, according to a report released Wednesday. The report said the department’s inspector general found that Chao used her staff and office for personal tasks and to promote a shipping business owned by Chao’s father and sisters, in an apparent violation of federal ethics rules. Chao, the wife of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, stepped down from her job early this year in the last weeks of the Trump administration, citing her disapproval over the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol by Trump’s supporters.

  • SpaceX's Starship rocket lands but then explodes

    Elon Musk's concept space vehicle completes a test flight but then destroys itself in flames.

  • South Korea's first transgender soldier found dead

    Byun Hee-soo had been dismissed by the military for undergoing gender reassignment surgery.

  • North Korea's Kim stresses roles of city, county leaders: KCNA

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stressed the significance of the role that city and county chief secretaries have in improving the lives of the people and carrying out his five-year economic policies, state news media KCNA said on Thursday. North Korea's drastic measures to contain COVID-19 have exacerbated human rights abuses and economic hardship, including reports of starvation, for its citizens, already battered by international sanctions, a United Nations investigator said. Kim said the city and county chief secretaries had responsibility for taking care of their residents and urged them to embark on a fresh "turning point" to help develop their areas in line with his new five-year strategy unveiled at the January party congress.

  • Curtis Flowers, wrongfully incarcerated for 23 years, will get maximum compensation, judge says

    Curtis Flowers, tried six times for the same crime, will receive Mississippi's maximum compensation for wrongful imprisonment. Here's how much it is.

  • The man who saves forgotten cats in Fukushima's nuclear zone

    A decade ago, Sakae Kato stayed behind to rescue cats abandoned by neighbours who fled the radiation clouds belching from the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant. So far he has buried 23 cats in his garden, the most recent graves disturbed by wild boars that roam the depopulated community. Kato leaves food for feral cats in a storage shed he heats with a paraffin stove.

  • Mitch McConnell on Donald Trump: We're looking to the 'future,' not 'the past'

    The back-and-forth between Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell underscores GOP turmoil as they look to regain control of Congress and the White House.

  • Myanmar sees deadliest day as 38 protesters killed

    Security forces are accused of opening fire without warning on protesters in several cities.

  • Covid: Brazil's daily deaths reach all-time high

    The daily toll reached 1,910 on Wednesday, Brazil's highest figure since the pandemic started.

  • Myanmar protesters back out on streets after bloodiest day since coup

    Police opened fire to break up a protest in the town of Pathein, to the west of Yangon, early on Thursday, media reported, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Regardless of the danger, activists said they refused to live under military rule and were determined to press for the release of elected government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and recognition of her victory in the election in November. In some parts of Yangon, protesters hung sheets and sarongs on lines across the street to spoil the view of police aiming their guns.

  • Utah nears new teen treatment rules Paris Hilton supported

    Utah is one hurdle away from stricter rules regulating treatment centers for troubled teens, weeks after Paris Hilton gave emotional testimony in support of the bill. The legislation for facilities that treat teens with behavioral and mental health issues gained final approval in the House on Tuesday and is headed to the governor for consideration. It’s unclear whether Republican Gov. Spencer Cox plans to support the legislation.

  • Biden condemns Texas and Mississippi for ending mask mandates, calling it 'a big mistake' and 'Neanderthal thinking'

    Federal health officials are urging Americans to continue wearing masks in public, social distancing, and washing their hands.

  • Cult deprogrammers inundated with requests to help people lost in Trump election, QAnon conspiracy theories

    Social media has become rife with disinformation and rabbit holes leading to conspiracy theories