Hey, you know what's wild about Texas turning into a gigantic desert thanks to climate change? I mean besides the fact that this makes it basically Kuwait-on-the-Rio-Grande? Many of the state's power plants, which rely on fresh water to produce electricity, could be shut down by the lack of water.
The current drought provides us a window on what's to come:
A number of Texas power plants may need to cut back operations or shut down completely if the state’s severe drought continues into the fall, an official with Texas’ main transmission manager told FuelFix.
If the state’s drought continues for much longer and water levels continue falling at other power plant reservoirs, other units could be forced to curtail operations or shut-down completely, [said Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.]
So, that's kind of a bummer — especially when you consider that the record temperatures that have accompanied this drought have already led to record demand and "power emergencies." That means more wear on plants and … well, you can see where this is going. If climate change picks up, it could be a drag on the economy, not to mention hamstringing Perry's "Texas miracle."
Also, it's funny that an official said this:
This has been the driest 12-month stretch we’ve seen in Texas in a long time.
… because "in a long time" is actually "ever" or at least "since the Middle Ages."
