Gulf policymakers detail efforts to brace for 2025 hurricanes
Eric Skrmetta, vice chair of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, said the durability of the power grid needs to improve, including calling for infrastructure that can help manage the flow of power.
'We're looking at the durability of [the] transmission grid, more than anything,' Skrmetta said when asked about hurricane season.
'We need supplies and we need mechanisms. We're going to need to build transformer manufacturing facilities,' he added.
Skrmetta said the state has 'been in discussions with the Pentagon about the need for building one, possibly in Louisiana, Oklahoma, [or] Texas.'
The 'Securing the Grid' event, which was sponsored by electric company Entergy, comes one day after the official start of hurricane season. U.S. weather agencies have predicted an 'above average' season, which could see between three and five major hurricanes.
'You're seeing our energy suppliers here in Texas put in more steel poles instead of wooden poles. There's a move to get as much of that infrastructure, if you will, below ground,' said Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas).
It's not just hurricanes though that have taken a toll on Texas's electric grid. During 2021's Winter Storm Uri, the state faced massive blackouts that killed hundreds of people.
The state has implemented significant reforms since that time, but Weber still said it's in bad shape — and criticized the Biden administration over electric vehicles in the process.
'It's really bad,' Weber said when asked to grade the state of the grid.
'They wanted to put 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations. They did put it in that bill and we don't have the grid to support that. So we're wanting to make sure that everybody understands that we ought to have nuclear,' he added, referring to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds for a nationwide electric vehicle charging network.
Meanwhile, Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.) said he'd give his state a 'B-plus' as far as infrastructure and storm response.
'Louisiana has been a very good student. It has done the preparation, and I think understanding of investing in our shorelines in our floodplains and our levees,' Carter said, but added 'we still have work to do.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
The Marines are leaving Los Angeles
'With stability returning to Los Angeles, [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth] has directed the redeployment of the 700 Marines whose presence sent a clear message: lawlessness will not be tolerated,' chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Hill's sister outlet NewsNation. Parnell claimed the Marines' 'unmistakable presence' in the city was 'instrumental in restoring order and upholding the rule of law,' even as few of the service members remained in public view following the initial show of force in June. The Trump administration continues to scale back its military deployment in Los Angeles after President Trump ordered some 4,100 California National Guard troops and later the 700 Marines to the city to quell protests of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The move was heavily criticized by California state officials for bypassing the consent of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who accused Trump of inflaming tensions with deployments he said were unnecessary. After protests largely died down across the city, service members found themselves with little to do, and last week Hegseth ordered half of some 4,000 remaining Guard members to return home. That leaves 2,000 in Los Angeles to continue with their role of protecting ICE agents as they conducted raids. Another 150 Guardsmen had earlier been allowed to leave the city to help fight wildfires in California. Newsom has continued to push for all deployed service members to leave the city, saying Trump has used them as 'political pawns.' Parnell did not say when the Marines would depart the city, but a defense official told The Washington Post they are set to return to the Twentynine Palms Base in the coming days. In a video posted to X 'unnecessary.'
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Trump Sharpens Attacks on a Favorite Foe: The News Media
In declaring war on The Wall Street Journal over its coverage of his yearslong friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump tapped his supporters' distrust of his favorite foe — the news media — in an effort to put down a mutiny within his base, as my colleague Erica Green explained. It was a familiar move that might have been lifted straight from his playbook in the 2016 presidential campaign. But this is a very different moment. If Trump's complaints about the media feel like a throwback to his first term, his actions toward the industry have gone much further than that. Over the past six months, Trump has undertaken a muscular and precise attack on the media's pressure points. He has sought to dismantle Voice of America, the federally funded news agency that provides coverage to countries with limited press freedom, and persuaded his allies in Congress to cut funding for public broadcasting after decades of similar efforts sputtered out. The tactics go well beyond cutting government funding, with the administration seeking to find — and use — every lever it has, just as it has in its attacks on certain universities. It has flexed its power over seemingly parochial matters — like when some reporters at legacy media organizations including The New York Times lost their desks at the Pentagon to friendly right-wing media outlets, or by removing The Journal from the press pool on a coming trip to Scotland — and over bigger ones, too. When Trump took office, his handpicked chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, quickly revived complaints about 2024 election coverage by ABC, CBS and NBC that had been dismissed by the outgoing chair, and he said the outcome of a 'news distortion' complaint about CBS could affect his agency's review of a merger proposed between Paramount, CBS's parent company, and Skydance. Those moves, my colleague Jim Rutenberg observed early this year, recall Richard Nixon's crackdown on the press after he won re-election — and they may succeed where Nixon failed, just as Trump failed in his first term. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Washington Post
Pentagon withdraws 700 Marines from Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — The Pentagon ordered the U.S. Marines to leave Los Angeles on Monday, more than a month after President Donald Trump deployed them to the city against the objections of local leaders. The 700 Marines were deployed June 9 on the fourth day of protests in downtown LA over the administration's crackdown on immigration . Four thousand National Guard soldiers were also deployed.
