Rep. Greg Casar wants to force the Texas grid to connect with the rest of the country, a grand proposal almost universally acknowledged as likely good policy and obviously bad politics.
Casar’s bill — which was dead on arrival in the House — would change a fact that many Texan politicians love to tout. Across the contiguous United States, the electric grid is split into three big pieces: the East, the West — and independent Texas.
Many parts of the country are embarking on the first steps toward connecting parts of the grid to ease the deployment of solar and wind generation, reduce reliability concerns and help meet the country’s expanding energy demands. But Texas has remained firmly opposed to such an idea. The politics of such a proposal are so third rail in the state that every federal proposal to improve and expand grid connections between different regions eventually excludes Texas or allows the state to opt out.