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Fact check: ERCOT, not Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, requested bypass of environmental limits

The claim: Biden administration denied a request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for electricity generators to bypass emissions limits to operate at full capacity during a winter storm

Cold temperatures and snow that resulted in rolling blackouts throughout Texas in February have put a brighter spotlight on the state’s power grid and its operators.

Five members resigned from the board for the entity that oversees Texas’ electrical grid in the wake of the power crisis.

Some social media users also have blamed President Joe Biden for the problems. One claim falsely said that the Biden administration denied a request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to allow electricity generators to exceed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits so that they could run at full capacity during the deep freeze.

Several Facebook users shared screenshots of a Twitter thread that starts off with a tweet suggesting Abbot made the request to the Biden administration. Abbott "declared an emergency and asked President Biden for an EPA waiver to allow power generation facilities to operate at full capacity until the emergency passed."

But that request came from the Energy Reliability Council of Texas, not Abbott, and the U.S. Department of Energy approved it.

A user who shared the claim on Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.

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ERCOT, not Abbott, made the request

Documents posted by the U.S. Department of Energy show that ERCOT, not Abbott, made a request on Feb. 14 for operators to exceed emissions levels outlined in federal permits so they could generate more electricity.

ERCOT was preparing for a scenario where demand for electricity in Texas was higher than even the worst-case scenario it had planned for last year.

The DOE approved the request with its own order on the same day, and ERCOT acknowledged that it had received the OK in a "market notice."

Abbott’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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Who set the price?

Social media posts also have seized on the inclusion of a price of $1,500 per megawatt hour that was included for the additional power in the DOE order.

While the order does set that price floor, that number came from ERCOT’s initial request. DOE granted ERCOT the same price it had requested for the additional energy that would be generated.

University of Texas at Austin professor Michael Webber told FactCheck.org that the minimum price was set to prevent the power generators that were allowed to exceed emissions limits from gaining an unfair advantage.

DOE’s order and ERCOT’s request also both indicated that power generated from those bypassing emissions limits would be the last used to fill the gap between the amount of electricity needed and what was available.

ERCOT promised in its request that electricity from those generators would be the last resource tapped to address the shortage.

The order instructed ERCOT to “exhaust all reasonably and practically available resources, including available imports, demand response, and identified behind-the-meter generation resources selected to minimize an increase in emissions, to the extent that such resources provide support to maintain grid reliability,” before operators were allowed to bypass the limits.

Fact check: DOE granted request for Texas electricity generators to exceed emissions limits

Our rating: False

A claim that said the Biden administration denied a request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to allow power generators to exceed emissions limits to operate at maximum capacity during a winter storm is FALSE. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, not Abbott, made the request to the U.S. Department of Energy, which approved the request.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: ERCOT, not Gov. Abbott, sought bypass of emission limits