Cristian Pineda was found dead after trying to stay warm by huddling up in a single room. When his parents found him lying there unconscious, they tried to put him in a bed with his younger brother, though young Cristian was already dead from hypothermia.
According to the nine-page lawsuit, Cristian "died because grid wasn't a priority, and the energy provider made decisions based on profits." Both Entergy and ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), the latter of which manages the flow of electrical power throughout most of the state, are responsible for Cristian's death, the suit adds.
Texans like the Pineda family should have been warned prior to the storm that they could be without power for many days, lawyers in the case say. Instead, they did nothing and people ended up dying.
"The failure to adequately inform Plaintiffs of the length of the black outs prevented them from properly preparing for the lack of power, or leaving the area," the suit alleges. "Accurate information might have saved Cristian Pineda's young life."
Entergy, ERCOT offer "thoughts" to suffering Texans
On Feb. 15 when temperatures across Texas began to plunge, ERCOT made the decision to implement rolling blackouts. Because demand skyrocketed while energy generation decreased, a nightmare scenario ensued.
Millions of Texans were left without power, and many of them never saw their power ever "roll" back on at all. The Pineda family was one such household where the power remained off, resulting in indoor temperatures plunging so low that young Cristian was unable to survive.
According to a GoFundMe fundraiser page, the Pineda family was left without power for two days. On the morning young Cristian was found dead, temperatures had plunged to 12 degrees Fahrenheit.
The suit seeks more than $100 million in damages from ERCOT and Entergy, both of which offered canned public statements about being "deeply saddened by the loss of life in our community." ERCOT offered its "thoughts" to "all Texans who have and are suffering due to this past week."
"However, because approximately 46 percent of privately-owned generation tripped offline this past Monday morning, we are confident that our grid operators made the right choice to avoid a statewide blackout," the group added in its defense.
Ron Paul says Gov. Abbott's China virus restrictions made the blackout situation even worse
ERCOT CEO Bill Magness claimed in the disaster's aftermath that the Texas power grid was just "minutes" from a months-long blackout when it made the decision to implement rolling blackouts. As of Feb. 19, the grid was back up and running as normal.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and North American Electric Reliability Corporation, two federal agencies, along with multiple state agencies are currently in the process of investigating Texas' grid failures.
"There are many reasons why Texas became like a Third World country, and we should be careful not to pin all the blame on just one factor," wrote retired Texas politician Ron Paul, as reiterated by a commenter at The Epoch Times.
According to Paul, the disaster "to a large degree" was caused by "political decisions to shift toward 'green' energy generated from solar and wind and by Governor Abbott's authoritarian COVID restrictions.
"Abbott, who won a 'wind leadership' award just this month, oversaw the near-collapse of wind energy generation last week," Paul added.
"Yet the politicization of energy generation in favor of 'green' alternatives over natural gas and other fossil fuels has led to the unintended consequences of freezing Texans facing multiple millions of dollars in property damage and worse."
More related news about corporate cronyism and its impact on the Texas energy grid can be found at Corruption.news.
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