The Order
Greg Abbott gave the order that made his donors billions and was rewarded with millions in campaign cash all while Texans froze during the Grid failure.
See Lone Star Project’s latest ad on Abbott’s corruption here:
While Texans were freezing and hundreds dying during Winter Storm Uri, Governor Greg Abbott directed power prices to stay at the maximum possible rate for several days, recent court proceedings revealed.
Abbott’s order led to billions in profits for natural gas companies and billions in higher energy bills for everyday Texans. The fallout means that most Texans will be paying an average of $45 more per month for decades to come.
The Denial
The shocking revelation — that it was Abbott himself who ordered the higher power prices — raises even more questions about the circumstances that led to him receiving millions of dollars in contributions from the natural gas industry just a few months after Texans experienced nearly $293 billion in damages and more than 750 deaths.
Abbott denied being “involved in any way” in the decision to keep prices at the maximum but then refused to release emails and text messages related to communications that occurred during the storm.
The Payoff
In March of 2021, Abbott’s handpicked appointee to run the Public Utilities Commission, the top energy regulator in the state, was caught giving assurances that the governor would protect the big business profits made during the winter storm price gouging. Abbott made sure that any efforts to reprice profits were stopped.
During the 2021 Legislative Session, Abbott also made sure that natural gas companies were given an easy loophole to avoid spending money to weatherize their equipment to protect against future storms. Even some Republican state senators were outraged at learning about the loophole.
All that money made and saved for natural gas companies makes it pretty easy to see why a donor like Kelcy Warren, CEO for the natural gas company Energy Transfer Partners, gave Abbott a $1 million contribution in June of 2021.
The Muzzle
And now, we’re seeing that same CEO try to silence Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke by filing a frivolous lawsuit using a law firm that represents clients like Donald Trump and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of Vladimir Putin.
We now know Greg Abbott was front and center and calling the shots that led to the biggest theft of taxpayer money in Texas history. Abbott has empowered his own Texas oligarch to silence Beto as he shines a light on the corruption. It’s another shameful, blood-soaked stain on a failed governor who has clearly put profits over people.
