Threats To Our Electrical Grid System – With Texas Senator Bob Hall: What has Senator Hall been warning people about for years, concerning the Texas energy grid? What should the rest of the nation learn from the Texas power-outage disaster? Why did Biden rescind Trump’s EO that would protect the nation from clear and present dangers? Should Texas join with the national grid? How can Texas and other states have reliable, resilient grid systems? How much would it cost to protect our energy grid? Tune in to hear Texas State Senator Bob Hall answer these questions and more!

Air Date: 03/16/2021

Guest: Senator Bob Hall

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith and the Culture

Rick:

This is the intersection of faith and the culture. Thank you so much for joining us today here at WallBuilders Live. By the way, WallBuilders come from that scripture in Nehemiah that says a rise and rebuild the walls that we may no longer be a reproach. 

Friends, that biblical story is a great example of when you don’t have that foundation, your nation is run over. But you can rebuild that nation if each person will do their part right there next to the wall where you live. And that’s what we challenge people to do in America today.

The foundations of America are cracking there. There are definitely flaws in the foundation at this point where we have taught Marxism in our schools, we have stopped teaching biblical truth as it applies to the culture and to every issue of the day, and we have to turn that around. We can do that we can rebuild the walls, we can rebuild the foundation of America. 

And we appreciate you listening to others live to learn how and to spread the word. Go to wallbuilderslive.com today, share these programs with your friends and family, make a contribution to help us add stations and reach more people, just have a louder voice, if you will, to reach more people. You can help amplify this voice of truth here on WallBuilders.

My name is Rick Green. I’m a former Texas legislator and America’s Constitution coach. And I have the privilege and honor of being here with David Barton. He is America’s premier historian, he’s the founder of WallBuilders. He’s done more to bring back those foundations than anyone I’ve ever met. For 30 years now, WallBuilders has taught the truth of what America was founded upon, those biblical foundations.

Help Us Bring Truth to Life!

And you can be a part of bringing that truth to life, we need truth in this culture. So thanks for listening today. And thanks for sharing this program with your friends and family. Tim Barton is also with us. He’s a national speaker and pastor, he’s president of WallBuilders. You should book him in to speak at your local church or community event, just a great way to bring these things to life.

We’re going to be diving in here in just a few minutes. But I do want to encourage you to consider making that one-time or monthly contribution at wallbuilderslive.com. If you would pray about that, think about that, go to the website, you can look at all the different things that we’re doing to impact the culture. And I know you want to be a part of the solution. So please consider doing that at our website today.

Okay, David, Tim, later in the program, we’re going to have Senator Bob Hall with us from Texas, an expert on the electric grid and just many of those issues. I don’t know if you all happen to notice, there was a little bit of chilly weather in Texas a few weeks back, you know, just a little bit chilly and maybe a few things froze. Did you guys have to endure that? I was in sunny Nevada for that whole thing, so I missed out.

David:

Yeah, you missed out on it. And I was trying to get back to Texas to enjoy the nine degrees below zero temperatures we had here. And it was so bad that they shut the DFW Airport for several days and I couldn’t get back from California. I got back for the latter part. But I think Tim you were here for all of it.

Texas Shut Down

Tim:

Yeah, don’t worry, guys. I took care of all while you were all gone.

Rick:

Yeah, thanks, Tim.

Tim:

I fed the animals. I broke the ice in the ponds for the animals to be able to drink. Good thing I had four wheel drive. And, dad, you’ve joked with me several times about there’s only like once every three years you need four wheel drive. Yes. But every time once every three years I have it and I can get around. 

Yeah, it was crazy seeing what was shut down and what wasn’t and the fact that you had some neighborhoods that had power, so many that didn’t have power. And really it was very sad in some levels to see what people had to endure it. Obviously, there’s a lot of great humanitarian stories out of this, where people that had power invited others into their home.

But it was a very, very trying time where you had people literally going and tearing down their fence. So wooden fence, so they would have wood to put in their fireplace to burn, just try to have warmth, because there was nothing else they could do. It was a crazy time in Texas. And Rick, we can kind of say tongue in cheek now that you had fun out in the sun, dad, that you were out in California, much warmer climate than where we were here in Texas.

A Devastating Event

For a lot of people, it was a devastating event. It wasn’t a fun time. It was a scary time. You know, we were fortunate that we actually maintained, my wife, daughter and I, we maintained our power for a lot of it. We actually invited people over and we were trying to help people where there was need, because they were neighbors all around us that lost their power. It was a very challenging scenario and certainly not something you expect to have in Texas.

But also, like one of the things we kind of have some pride in in Texas is normally we’re tough and we embrace and endure and we’re not usually overcome. This was unusual having so much devastation in the state.

Rick:

And it was hard to even get home. I couldn’t get home through West Texas. That’s part of why we didn’t even make it back for the storm. When we finally came right after the storm, we couldn’t get gas. I mean all through on I10, and town after town after town it was the trash bag over the handle there at the pumps because the trucks couldn’t get in to refuel. It was is a surreal time.

David:

Well, it’s also a great lesson for the rest of the nation, there’s a lot to be learned from it. Because Texas unlike the nation, we have our own electric grid. Now a lot of the nation is divided into sections and parts of the country on one grid, etc. But the Texas grid, we talked to legislators, senior legislators, and we came within less than two minutes of having a complete shutdown of our electric grid. 

Green Energy

Now, a lot of it they blame on green energy, because even though we produce lots of natural gas, the pressure from the environmentalist says oh, natural gas is bad. And so we were using electricity to run our electrical plants. But because of the cold temperatures, there was so much load on the electrical plants, they couldn’t supply it all and they were overloaded. And so what we were told was, if the grid goes down, it will take probably six to eight weeks to get it restarted and get it back up.

So in Texas, you’re looking at several places with below zero temperatures, and we’re not used to that. We don’t know how to live in the cold weather. There were actually deaths where people froze to death inside their homes when the power was out.

Tim:

Now, let’s also clarify that some of them inside their home, their home was down and 20 degrees and 30 degrees with no heat. So it’s not like they’re freezing to death when it’s 40, 50, 60, 70 degrees, no, this was 20 degrees in their home. Maybe their home wasn’t well insulated, or it was just cold for so long that the heat didn’t maintain anymore. But these were the conditions people were dealing with.

David:

 And think about hospitals, if they went down for six to eight weeks, what happens with all the medical care that’s needed? Think about even fuel, the inability to pump gasoline, think about grocery stores being down because if you don’t have gasoline you can’t get food to the stores. I mean, start thinking about all the things that happen if a power grid goes down, and consider what would happen if the power grid went down in the United States.

An Expert on the Power Grid

Now one of the guys who has been a real expert on power grid here in Texas is Senator Bob Hall. And Senator Bob Hall, very conservative guy, very strong guy, strong leader. And he’s an expert on this. And so without, alright, let’s kind of talk to him, see what we can learn from this, because there’s lessons for America out of this.

And while lot of what he’s going to say is Texas specific, you can get past that and just listen to the principles that are involved, because there can be some good guidance here for the rest of us to be prepared for what might happen if the grid goes down elsewhere for whatever reason.

Rick:

It’s a good lesson in planning for these kinds of things and government’s role and regulation and all those different things. What’s the balance there in terms of some of the services that are provided out there? Senator Bob Hall, our special guests when we return on WallBuilders Live.

Moment From American History

This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. As the American war for independence began, the president of Yale was the Reverend Naftali Daggett. When New Haven, the home of Yale came under attack, about 100 citizens rushed out to meet the British. The Reverend Daggett gout by them on horseback, his clerical robes flowing behind him in the wind, and he took up a solitary position atop a hill.

The 2,500 British soon put the townsfolk to flight, but the Reverend Daggett continued to stand alone, firing down on the advancing troops. A British officer confronted him, “What are you doing there, you old fool? If I let you go, will you ever fire again on the troops of His Majesty?” “Nothing more likely”, was the preachers reply. America’s early pastors at personally confronted danger and courageously lead their communities.

For more information on Pastor Daggett and other colonial patriots, go to wallbuilders.com

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. Man. I am honored today to have Senator Bob Hall from the great state of Texas with us. I mean, this is a guy that has been so solid. You know, you elect people and you hope they’re going to be good on the Constitution, and good on liberty and biblical worldview and all that, and most of the time you’re disappointed. Not so with Senator Hall. 

I am proud to say he’s actually a Patriot Academy grad came through our citizen track when we first did it, and he was my host the first time we recorded our Constitution Alive course that many of you on this program had been through. So you owe Senator Hall a thank you as well. Senator, love you brother, thank you for some time today.

Welcome Senator Bob Hall

Bob:

Thank you, Rick. Listen, I love you too, and I love what you do. I mean, you’re a patriot. And what you’ve done with these young folks with the Patriot Academy, they’re going to be crowns in heaven waiting for you for that work and thank you for having me on with you again.

Rick:

Well, I appreciate that and appreciate how you help us with Patriot Academy as well. And you have been I mean for years warning about the electric grid issues in Texas and I mean, some people acted like you were Chicken Little, the sky is going to fall. Well, when the sky is falling, it’s kind of hard to call you Chicken Little. I mean, now people are realizing what you’ve been saying for years should have woke us up.

Now that we had the storm we had so many people without power, we came so close to the whole thing falling apart, you’ve got a platform now where people are finally listening to you. And so we wanted to get you on and just ask you questions about what is the real problem? 

And can it be fixed? And what do you think will happen in this legislative session? So that’s a lot of questions at once. Let’s back up. What is it that you’ve been warning people about for years with regard to the electricity grid in Texas?

Bob:

Well, the warning I’ve been giving is that our electrical grid is extremely vulnerable to both manmade and natural threats that could take it down completely and leave us without power for weeks and most likely many, many months if not years. The threat of just the sunspots or coronal mass ejections, a natural event that occurs could do it and as well as a manmade threat of EMP, Electromagnetic Pulse. One small nuclear weapon detonated a couple 100 nautical miles above the Earth’s surface over the central part of the United States could turn the lights indefinitely.

Clear and Present Danger

And so it’s a threat that rogue nations like Iran, North Korea have threatened, ISIS has threatened it. And we know Russia and China have the weapon and it’s in their arsenal, it’s in their capability. And it’s probably our most vulnerable place. 

Trump recognized it, he had two executive orders on the subject that he issued trying to get the national command to take action to protect the national grid, and a second one to protect us against the equipment made in China that had malware in it. Unfortunately, our current president saw fit to rescind both of those orders.

Rick:

Wow! Wow! A clear and present danger that is right there and that other countries have even said, I mean, they’ve signaled that that’s something they would love to be able to do and potentially could do. You know, I would have thought that our military would have wargame this stuff out that would be issuing warnings to states like Texas, and saying, here’s the precautions you can take. The fact that they haven’t done that is bothersome, obviously. Can we do something at the state level to deal with that, even if the federal government ignores it?

Bob:

Oh, absolutely. Well, I will say that they the military in the last few years has not been silent on this. They have recognized that our electrical grid system is a national security issue, but they don’t have any control over it. They’re not in charge of the grid system. But they have issued warnings and they’re well aware of the EMP threat. 

They move their national command back into Cheyenne Mountain just because specifically to protect it from the EMP threat. And Joint Base San Antonio is working with the City of San Antonio and CPS Powers have been for the last year and a half to develop a resilient community in light of this threat.

The Texas Power Grid

And the answer to the second part of the equation, absolutely, Texas has its own electrical grid. The Texas grid is the Texas grid. There’s the eastern which is to the east of us and the western to the west to serve all the other states. 

But Texas grid, which is under Urquhart serves about 90% of the state of Texas. And so we have our own grid. We don’t have to pander to the federal government. We can step out and do our own production of it if we just muster the will to do it.

Rick:

And that was something that we were criticized for the last few weeks that because we went alone and all that kind of stuff, how do you respond to that, that that was somehow why we had the rolling blackouts?

Bob:

No, the Texas grid being isolated from the other two had nothing to do with the problems we experienced with the weather. The states on either side of us they were struggling as much as we were. And coming out of this and making changes, the absolute worst one that we could make would be to join in with the national grid. That would put us back underneath federal control. And the last thing we need is additional federal government messing with Texas.

Rick:

So what are you asking the Texas Legislature to do at this point?

A Bill for a Reliable, Resilient Grid

Bob:

What we’re going to try to do is we’re take that bill that we had before and recognize that the people of Texas deserve to have a reliable grid system, a resilient grid system that can withstand the threats that are out there, both natural and manmade. 

And rather than trying to solve this by maybe winterizing, or protecting against storms or against water, or maybe against the GMDs or the EMPs or cyber or physical, we roll it all together and say we need to have a resilient grid system that will stand up to all these threats and address it as a system.

And that way we can assure that when people need electricity, they will have it. We call it the resilient communities, because it goes beyond just the power system. And we’re looking at what needs to be done physically to protect the components in the systems operation. 

But in addition to that, communities need to make sure that through these disasters, they have communications, they have water, they have sewer, they have emergency services, they have financial services, first responders, etc. And so they need that to be a resilient community. So that’s what the bill does.

We will look at the physical changes that need to be made to protect the power grid, and then the communities will develop their own protection for the other services that I just described, and thus developing resilient community. But I’m looking for the legislature to put together a taskforce that would be headed up by TDEM, our emergency management department. And they would pull in the resources from the power companies and Urquhart NTUC, fuel gas suppliers, etc.

TDEM

And I picked TDEM, because they really don’t have a dog in the fight in the say with what is done in the grid, but they are going to have to clean up the mess that they did, ain’t done right. And TDEM has demonstrated itself during this COVID event as being a well-organized, well-run organization that gets things done.

Rick:

And I love the fact that you just called it a COVID event, because I was actually wondering, I’d read some stories that said some of these areas, they didn’t even go out and do their checks or whatever, because of the restrictions and the COVID executive order from the governor and all the things that have been going on for the last year. Have you found any truth to that? Was there literally like, I think I read 15% of actual physical checks instead of just doing things on Zoom?

Bob:

This COVID has been used as an excuse for not doing a lot of things. And unfortunately, I haven’t verified that. But I’ve heard the same thing you did, and I believe is probably true. Because every time I’ve asked about something, or tried to get somebody to say, well, they’re working from home because of the COVID or no, they can’t go do that because of the COVID.

And so this COVID has been used as an excuse for people to not necessarily do what they need to do because the government in the COVID thing has just way overstepped its bounds in developing a fear factor among people that has kept them from doing the jobs that they should have been doing.

How Much $$ To Protect the Grid?

Rick:

So true. So true. Last question. I mean, there’s some things I study a lot and feel like I know a lot about, there’s some I’m ignorant. And I don’t mean that as an insult to myself, I’m just I don’t know, and that’s what ignorance isn’t. 

And ignorance is curable by asking the right question. So all the things that we’re talking about here, to fix the electric grid, is that a gargantuan price tag? Is it something that’s affordable to do? I mean, based on what you’ve looked at, what do you think it does economically?

Bob:

Well, Rick, we have spent over $19 billion building [inaudible 18:46] lines for wind power and solar power to bring electricity from western part of Texas into the big cities. To protect our electrical grid would be a fraction of what we spent on green energy.

Rick:

No kidding. No kidding. Well, there you go. I mean, right there, so it’s just a policy decision. It’s literally spending the money on these things that are more politically popular so you accepted here, but politicians can have their press conference and say, hey, we’re doing the green new deal, we’re saving the environment and all this other baloney. Instead of hey, we’re doing what actually works, and we’re doing what will actually make sure that your lights don’t go out.

Worth the Small Investment for Protection

Bob:

Well, yeah, and to put in perspective. People talk about spending ungodly amounts of money for a high speed bullet train that is just basically for convenience. We’re talking about something that is going to make sure that America is not annihilated by either nature or a terrorist attack. And I think the lives of the American people, being assured that they can sustain an attack and be resilient is well worth whatever small investment it will take for that protection.

Rick:

And actually, it falls into the proper role of government, right, I mean, one of the few things we want government to do.

Bob:

Protect the people.

Rick:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, Senator, we’re thankful for you and would love to have you back towards the end of the session, hopefully, with good news that this did pass and that movements being made in the right direction. I just want to encourage you, I want you to know that there are patriots all over the state in this country that are thankful for men and women like you that don’t just say they’re for certain things, they actually follow through. And we don’t have enough of them, but we do have some, and you’re one of them, and we appreciate you.

Bob:

Well, thank you very much, Rick, we appreciate you too, all the work you do getting the word out to folks about the proper role of government, and what our Founding Fathers intended for us to have to live in freedom and liberty. So God bless you, and thank you for what you do.

Rick:

That’s Senator Bob Hall. Stay with us, folks, we’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

This Precarious Moment

Hi, this is David Barton, I want to let you know about a brand new book we have are called This Precarious Moment: Six Urgent Steps that Will Save You, Your Family, and Our Country. Jim, Garlow, and I have co-authored this book. And we take six issues that are hot in the culture right now. issues that we’re dealing with: issues such as immigration, and race relations, and our relationship with Israel, and the rising generation millennials in the absence of the church and the culture wars, and where American heritage is, our godly heritage.

We look at all six of those issues right now that are under attack and we give you both biblical and historical perspective on those issues that provide solutions on what each of us can do right now to make a difference. These are all problems that are solvable if we’ll get involved.

So you can grab the book This Precarious Moment and find out what you can do to make a difference. “This Precarious Moment” is available at wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Senator Bob Hall for joining us today as well.

And David and Tim, of course, he was talking specifically about the Texas grid and the things that they’re going to be working on the legislative session this year. But what do you guys think about even the issue of going towards a lot of this green new energy that definitely failed us during the this freeze in Texas, the windmills and other things, that’s certainly not just a Texas issue, that’s all over the country where we have a lot of that?

What About an EMP?

David:

It’s all over the country. But it’s not just a source of energy, is the fact of how you distribute, is the grids. It’s a distribution network. And he mentioned briefly the EMP, and I’m not sure folks know what EMP is. So if you do, forgive me, I’m going to kind of tell everybody what that is. Because this is something that’s been wargame for a long time with federal leaders we’ve talked to.

An EMP is called an Electromagnetic Pulse. All it is electromagnetic radiation. It’s what you actually get from sunlight, sunrays, but it’s a different frequency from sunray. So you can get it really couple of ways. A solar flare creates a lot of radiation that interferes with the electrical generation and electrical delivery as does a nuclear explosion.

Now, think about all the countries out there that are trying to get dirty bombs into America, whether it’s Iran, or China or anybody else. There’s all these groups that are trying to create dirty nuclear bombs and they want them to go off near power grid, because here’s the deal.

When that goes off, it interrupts all electrical delivery. And estimates are right now that if any kind of EMP goes off, within one year, 90% of all Americans will die, because they don’t know how to live outside, they don’t know how to raise their own food, they don’t know how to get anything except at a store. And so this really is a huge issue and it doesn’t cross our mind because we take it for granted that this is what we got.

Tim:

And let’s clarify, you said they don’t know how to live outside. Specifically, they don’t know how to grow their own crops, they don’t know how to live off the land. Because if we lose electrical, then largely speaking, much of the produce that people are used to going to the grocery store and buying, it’s not going to be produced anymore. You can’t go to the store and buy goods, you have to start growing your own crops.

Living Off-Grid

Many people live in a city, they don’t even have acreage to grow a garden, to grow crops. And people, some of them that do live maybe a little outside the city and they might have an acre or two, they’re not prepared for this. And that’s the point, is that most people in our modernized culture are not ready for what life would be like if you had to go back.

Essentially, you’re going back several 100 years in technology because of how much stuff we have that is based on having a power grid, is based on electricity, it is based on the level of transportation that we have today. And so this is why it could be utterly devastating and why we want to make sure that we protect ourselves in what we are doing.

David:

And you know, Tim, with what you’re talking about, it’s the concept okay. I know how to grow garden. Okay, well, let’s say EMP happens and you say I need to grow a garden. It’s going to be two months before you get anything out of that garden. What are you going to do to eat two months while it’s growing?

And well, I’ll drive and say with somebody else. No, no, you don’t have any way of transportation anymore other than horses and walking. How good are you walking from city to city or walking across the country? I mean, it will so radically change our life, we will be back in frontier days.

And I mean, thank God we have all these conveniences, but we should never take them for granted. And we should start developing skill sets and use this as contingency. Proverbs says, the wise man foresees danger and prepares for it.

And I hope we never ever, ever need to do anything with this, but it doesn’t hurt to think about it. And what Bob Hall has laid out for us is a pretty good indication of what could happen, almost happen to Texas, could happen to the country.

Threats To Our Electrical Grid System – With Texas Senator Bob Hall

Rick:

Alright, friends, we’re out of time for today. But be sure to visit our website wallbuilderslive.com, you can get archives of the program if you missed any over the last few weeks, and you’ll also find some great action steps. You can host one of our Constitution classes. Maybe do our new one Biblical Citizenship in Modern America. You can get some of those materials to study and learn with your friends and family. It’s just a great way to learn how to be a good citizen and help preserve freedom for future generations.

No matter where you live in America, you’ve got a role to play in all this. We talked about at the beginning of the program that we have to rebuild the walls at the place where we live, we had to make sure we’re rebuilding those foundations. So please consider being a part of that. You can learn more about all of it at wallbuilders.com and wallbuilderslive.com. Thanks for listening today. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.