MSNBC host Chris Hayes has blasted Fox News and right-wing media for falsely blaming wind turbines as the cause of the weakening power outages that plagued Texas, and on Tuesday accused “these charlatans” of pushing the “painful culture war idiocy” into an attempt to demonize clean. energy.
With much of Texas drenched while the historic winter storms raged, the demand for electricity skyrocketed, and the right-wing media attributed most of the blame to the state’s wind farms. Fox News points to images of frozen wind turbines and connects Joe Biden’s pursuit of green energy to the disaster in Texas, even though the state gets the vast majority of its energy from fossil fuels.
Hayes kicked off his first MSNBC program by reporting on the devastation in the Lone Star State and noted that more than four million Texans were left without power on Tuesday amid icy temperatures.
He then draws attention to those who want to exploit the issue for political gain.
“It’s a horrible situation. It is driven by a complex confluence of factors, from extreme weather to an electrical infrastructure that is unfortunately underdeveloped to the peculiarities of Texas ‘aggressively deregulated and independent energy market,’ he noted.
‘But of course Fox News and other Republicans saw a kind of suffering, a kind of problem somewhere and immediately – without missing a beat – immediately tried to turn it into a culture war, in this case against that damn hippie- liberals and their clean energy, ”the progressive MSNBC host added.
Hayes has merely accused a montage of Fox stars accusing the deadly interruptions to windmills, while the claim of wind power does not work in freezing temperatures.
“Imagine how stupid you would have to think your audience is, the contempt for holding them, to look into the camera and try to sell them on the idea that windmills do not work when it’s cold,” he said. exclaimed. ‘After Texas, Iowa is the state with the most wind power in the country. If you’ve ever been to Iowa in the winter, I can tell you from my own experience that it’s getting pretty cold in Iowa. ‘
If it is added that Denmark, a country with very cold winters, receives half its power from wind, All in host then quoted the senior director of the Texas Electric Reliability Council, who said earlier Tuesday that ice that had to shut down some wind turbines was the ‘most important factor’ in the weakening in Texas.
“It’s just a lie that wind turbines, green energy, are currently the main causes of the problems in Texas,” Hayes declared, comparing the allegation to the ‘Big Lie’ that the election of former President Donald Trump was ‘stolen’. .
“Let us be clear, this is probably a false consequence of the election, because energy and how we produce it is the biggest single problem that this country will face in the medium term,” he continued.
Hayes noted that power grids are ‘complicated’ and ‘angry things’, saying that every now and then a disaster occurs that reminds us that the grid is the ‘foundation of modern civilization’ and that it is also the key to to overcome climate change. ‘
“Republicans and right-wing media, they want to take every policy issue and turn it into a painful culture war idiocy,” Hayes said. And there is an interest in doing that. The fossil fuel companies want it too. They want to turn into a culture war, like the libraries do not want you to have power. ‘
Although he said that there is no reason why we can not create a modern energy infrastructure that is more resistant to climate change, and also cheaper, and that can also serve people better, ‘Hayes concluded that the “The biggest obstacle will be these charlatans who will seize every opportunity to lie to people for profit and for power.”