Texas governor blamed renewable energy for blackouts on Fox News. He told Texans a different story.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is using his state's overwhelming blackouts as a deceptive excuse to attack the Green New Deal.

More than 2.5 million Texas power customers remain in the dark after unprecedented winter storms froze several of the state's power sources. While some of the state's unweatherized windmills did freeze up, most of the blame lies with natural gas shortages. That's exactly what Abbott told Dallas-area ABC affiliate WFAA on Tuesday night, describing how natural gas has frozen up and prevented manufacturers from extracting and shipping it to power plants and customers.

But when Abbott appeared on Fox News and faced a national audience, he told a different story. "This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for America," Abbott told Hannity, particularly noting how solar and wind power got "shut down." Abbott then noted those sources account for 10 percent of the state's energy, neglecting to mention how the other sources making up a far larger majority failed as well.

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Millions of Texans still don't have power days after the state's independent energy grid failed, leading to the deaths of several people in the state. While it's true that some of Texas' windmills weren't properly prepared for a deep freeze, others were still overproducing power early in the story.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.