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TEXAS IAF SAY CURRENT DISASTER NOT AN “ACT OF GOD” BUT A LACK OF ACTION BY STATE LEADERS


The Texas IAF Network denounces the lack of state leadership which has produced a desperate and dire situation for Texas families. Cities have nursing homes without electricity, apartments and mobile home parks have no water and power, and whole counties are without shelters or warming stations.


“Ideology, greed, and incompetence at the state level have come together as a perfect storm to threaten the lives of Texas families,” said Elizabeth Valdez, Director of the Texas IAF.


Texas saw similar power and infrastructure failures in 1989 and again in 2011 as a result of similar weather events. Notwithstanding these warnings, state leaders failed to prevent it from happening again.


“The storm may have been an act of nature, but the devastation of the electrical grid shut down is an act of sheer negligence”, said Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly of Dallas Area Interfaith. “It was foreseeable based on similar occurrences in the past, and so a failure on the part of state leaders to address the basic energy infrastructure needs of a growing state. There needs to be a full accounting by state leaders as to what happened and what is being done to address this critical need.”


The Network of Texas IAF Organizations calls on Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and state leaders to immediately supply Texas communities with power, water, food, supplies and emergency shelter.

§ Release state funds to local governments for direct assistance in food, water, supplies.

§ Work with federal government and FEMA to bring immediate national assistance to Texas.

§ Force ERCOT to get service running, and ensure that PUC prevents further rate spikes.

Over the long term, the Texas IAF calls on state leaders to invest in “winterizing” our power, water, and other utilities to prevent future disaster. Texas IAF leaders demand that state leaders own up to the anti-regulation ideology that has done damage to Texas’s infrastructure, and to take action to turn it around.


*The Network of Texas IAF Organizations are non partisan, institutionally based community organizations whose purpose is to train leaders to organize families around issues which affect their quality of life. The network includes Communities Organized for Public Service and The Metro Alliance in San Antonio, The Border Organization, Valley Interfaith in the Rio Grande Valley; TMO in Houston; EPISO and Border Interfaith In El Paso; Austin Interfaith; ACT in Fort Worth; Dallas Area Interfaith; AMOS- Arlington , The West Texas Organizing Strategy; and Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange.

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