Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick targets PUC and tests Governor Greg Abbott

Since last month’s winter weather disaster, Governor Greg Abbott has placed the blame directly on the state’s power grid operator – despite being overseen by the Abbott-appointed Public Utility Commission.

But as state lawmakers delve into their response to the crisis, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is making it increasingly difficult to look away from the commission by sharply spotlighting the people of Abbott and their decisions.

Last week, Patrick called for the resignation of the then PUC chairman, DeAnn Walker – and hours later she called it quits. Then, after a regulatory watchdog told the commission earlier this week that the Texas Electric Reliability Council overcharged energy suppliers by $ 16 billion during the storm, Patrick demanded the PUC retroactively cut costs – and Abbott considered it an emergency post for the legislative session. the next day.

The watchdog later revised its estimate of the overcharge to $ 4.2 billion, but that didn’t dampen Patrick’s anger. The lieutenant governor’s focus on the PUC took its most dramatic turn to date Thursday night when he showed up at a hearing of the state senate committee to personally grill Arthur D’Andrea, the new committee chair tapped by Abbott – and the only member who left.

In the end, Patrick closed the week with his most direct challenge to Abbott. In a statement Friday evening, Patrick called on Abbott to “intervene” and replace D’Andrea, challenging the governor to abandon his 9-day-old appointee, who previously worked as Abbott’s assistant general counsel. .

Abbott quickly rejected Patrick.

Even before Patrick’s statement, Capitol observers said they couldn’t remember the recent showdown with Patrick and D’Andrea.

“It’s highly unusual, and I’ve never seen a lieutenant governor sit down and take part in a hearing as if he or she were a senator – and also speak to someone in a public way like that – if they didn’t intend to. Pressing him to resign, “said Sandie Haverlah, a nonprofit lobbyist.” Obviously, that is an insult to the governor, because D’Andrea is serving according to the will of the governor. “

Asked for Patrick’s statement Friday whether Abbott remains confident in D’Andrea’s ability to chair the PUC, Abbott spokesman Renae Eze replied, “Absolutely.” And in a letter released after Patrick called for D’Andrea’s impeachment, Abbott told Patrick that he agreed with D’Andrea “over his inability to take the action you requested,” referring to the sought-after price correction .

Abbott has opposed since the storm’s early days to blame the PUC, which regulates the state’s electricity, water, and telecommunications companies, opting instead to excuse the Texas Electric Reliability Council . Asked at a Feb. 18 press conference whether he had any responsibility for the crisis, given his office’s relationship with the PUC, Abbott continued to focus attention on ERCOT, saying, “I take responsibility for ERCOT’s current status.”

“This is a word I wouldn’t normally use to describe Dan Patrick, but I think he was always a little more careful, especially with regard to ERCOT,” said Adrian Shelley, Texas director of the consumer rights group Public Citizen. “Abbott was just right there to take cheap photos at ERCOT.”

What drives the momentum is the source of growing speculation in Austin. There is a political background: Patrick has never been able to completely shake off rumors that he is interested in the office of the governor, despite insisting that he would never run against Abbott and repeatedly saying that he intends to run for office. set for a third term as Lieutenant Governor in 2022.

In the context of this session, it was a remarkable resurgence for Patrick, who held out unusually low throughout the opening weeks. That started to change in early February, as he argued to play the national anthem at professional sports matches and prepared to release a list of legislative priorities.

Then came the storm, which left millions of Texans in the cold and dark, raised uncomfortable questions about the state’s power grid and shook the Capitol agenda.

Patrick said the crisis has prompted him not to release his priorities for a few days so that he can adjust them to new pressing issues. His list of 31 priorities was eventually led by “ERCOT reform” and “grid stability”, who came second and third respectively – right after the mandatory budget.

But things changed further for Patrick after Walker and outgoing ERCOT CEO Bill Magness appeared before state house and senate committees in late February. The Lieutenant Governor posited their accomplishments in a lengthy statement calling for them to resign, easily becoming the highest-ranking official to extend the post-storm blame game to the PUC.

By the end of the day, Walker had submitted her letter of resignation, effective immediately.

Abbott had already called on ERCOT leaders to resign but said nothing about the PUC. After Walker announced her resignation, Abbott’s office offered a statement thanking Walker “for her many years of service in the state of Texas.”

Patrick further increased pressure on the PUC on Monday when he called on ERCOT and the commission to retroactively lower the market price for power during the week of the power outage. The next day, Patrick received support from 28 of the 31 legislature senators, who sent a letter to D’Andrea – who had just appointed Abbott to replace Walker as PUC chairman – urging him “in the strongest possible terms to immediately correct billing errors. “

D’Andrea and the PUC have declined to do so, citing unforeseen consequences of meddling in an electricity market that has already been settled. D’Andrea stuck to that point of view when Patrick questioned him for nearly half an hour on Thursday evening, claiming that D’Andrea had told him otherwise in a recent phone call.

In his statement on Friday evening, Patrick Abbott asked to “replace Mr. D’Andrea from the PUC when he fills the other two vacancies there”.

“Mr. D’Andrea’s position requires both professional competence and honesty, and he showed little of that at yesterday’s hearings,” said Patrick. conclude that D’Andrea should not have full authority over ERCOT or be part of the solution that goes beyond. “

Less than an hour after Patrick’s statement, Abbott’s office delivered the letter to the Lieutenant Governor. In the letter, Abbott called on his previous experience as a Supreme Court judge and state attorney general to support D’Andrea, telling Patrick that the governor “has no independent authority to achieve the goals you are seeking.”

“The only entity that can authorize the solution you want is the legislature itself,” Abbott wrote. “That’s why I’ve made this issue an emergency post for the legislature to consider this session.”

Not every senator is with Patrick, at least when it comes to the price correction. The three senators who did not sign the letter were sens. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe; Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin; and Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills. Hancock told The Dallas Morning News that he wanted to remain neutral in the debate because he is chairman of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, which held the chamber’s hearings after the storm.

Creighton’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The legislators in Parliament, meanwhile, have taken what they consider to be a more deliberative approach, with some pledging to “have all the facts” before taking action on the issue.

During a House State Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday, State Representative Chris Paddie, a Marshall Republican who chairs the committee, appeared to take a stab at the Senate’s letter asking D’Andrea to undo the charges.

‘Before we take a stand whether one of us individually sends you, sir, a letter or anything else,’ Paddie said to D’Andrea, ‘I’m sure when I sign my name on something that I have all the facts, and that it is correct. “

Following the hearing, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said in a statement that he appreciated the committee for its “deliberative investigation” of the matter and said he looks forward to another hearing on the talk.

And for the past week, Phelan has put forward the idea of ​​legislation that would create a loan fund by withdrawing money from the state savings account, otherwise known as the rainy day fund. That new fund could help electricity and natural gas producers fortify their facilities against future cold weather.

The proposal, submitted Friday by State Representative Dan Huberty, R-Houston, is modeled after the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas, known as SWIFT, which has helped build tens of billions of dollars in new water projects in recent years. .

In the meantime, it seems inevitable that the heat on the PUC will not abate, despite Abbott’s early efforts to protect his officials from the storm.

“I think it will be difficult to come to any other conclusion,” said Doug Lewin, climate and energy consultant. Obviously, Abbott jumped out to say it was [ERCOT], and I think … Patrick beat the drum that it’s ERCOT and the PUC and really put the emphasis on the PUC. “

Cassi Pollock contributed to the reporting.