A panel of judges has said that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the 2021 blackout. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.

Almost three years since the deadly Texas blackout of 2021, a panel of judges from the First Court of Appeals in Houston has ruled that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the crisis. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.

The decision seems likely to protect the companies from lawsuits filed against them after the blackout. It leaves the families of those who died unsure where next to seek justice.

In February of 2021, a massive cold front descended on Texas, bringing days of ice and snow. The weather increased energy demand and reduced supply by freezing up power generators and the state’s natural gas supply chain. This led to a blackout that left millions of Texans without energy for nearly a week.

The state has said almost 250 people died because of the winter storm and blackout, but some analysts call that a serious undercount.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
      28·
      11 months ago

      Corporate taxes are a regressive tax on the poor. There’s no benefit to taxing a business instead of people directly, and serious harm caused.

      Taxing Amazon doesn’t hurt Jeff Bezos. It just makes products more expensive for people that already struggle to afford them. It doesn’t even effect Amazon’s profit margin.

      • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        11·
        11 months ago

        It’s the structure of taxing that is the problem. If we tax their holdings or assets, tax the fuck out of their stocks exchanges. Force business to do business and make hording too expensive. Companies with billions in cash sitting in offshore bank accounts is disgusting and should be abolished.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
          12·
          11 months ago

          Companies with billions in cash sitting in offshore bank accounts is disgusting and should be abolished.

          This is how businesses grow, though. Having cash on hand is extremely important, and the amount necessary scales with the size of the business. It’s effectively overhead.

          All of these ideas make things more expensive for poor people for no reason.

          • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            1·
            11 months ago

            I don’t think you understand how much money big corporations hoard. Investment isn’t what I am talking about. Pure cash holdings, it’s really not normally done like this.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
              11·
              11 months ago

              I literally worked for a fortune 100 company. I know exactly how much, because they report on it internally, especially during big shit like COVID.

              There’s nothing wrong with a company having money in the bank. That’s an extremely good thing, especially for financial and tech companies.

              I don’t know why people hate companies making money at all. If individual people are making more money than is good for society, tax then. If Jeff Bezos owning Amazon pisses you off, carve you off a slice. No issue there.

              Taxing companies makes the lives of poor people harder, so I’m against that.