Aging infrastructure and climate change leave power grid vulnerable

Climate change and poor maintenance of the power grid are intensifying wildfires like the 2024 Smokehouse Creek fire, which devastated Texas, destroyed homes, and took two lives.

Taylor Dorrell reports for Outrider.

In short:

The Smokehouse Creek wildfire, sparked by a utility company’s equipment, burned over a million acres and killed two people in Texas.
Experts say the U.S. power grid is outdated, built for less extreme weather, and vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change.
Public ownership of utilities is being debated as a possible solution to rising energy costs and the push for a greener grid.

Key quote:

“The grid in the United States is not built for significant weather events. It's built for normal everyday usage based on a climate of the 1950s or 1960s. The increased heat is contributing to outages and causing challenges of extreme heat for utility workers.”

— Jim Harrison, director of renewable energy at the Utility Workers Union of America

Why this matters:

As climate change drives more extreme weather, aging power infrastructure increases the risk of catastrophic events like wildfires. Without major upgrades to the grid, the U.S. faces rising costs, energy instability and public safety concerns.

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