Focus at Four: Senator Kolkhorst on appointment to Special Committee after Beryl
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – After the destruction of Hurricane Beryl, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced the creation of the Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery and Electricity.
One of the members of the committee, Senator Lois Kolkhorst, joined First News at Four on Friday.
Part of the reason Sen. Kolkhorst was appointed, she said, was because of her district’s proximity to the coast.
“Being a lawmaker and the senator from the coast before redistricting, I had the most miles of the coastline of any senator in the State of Texas. After redistricting, I don’t have Matagorda and [I] don’t have Jackson County, but I do have Calhoun County. Which is a Tier 1 county, all the way down to Rockport Fulton, so I am a coastal senator,” Sen. Kolkhorst explained.
On Monday, Sen. Kolkhorst said there will be a long conversation about the grid and its resiliency.
”It, actually, was not a generation issue; the power generators were still generating power. It became what we call power lines, the TDU’S, which are transmission and distribution utilities, and how the resiliency of that part of our infrastructure is or is not,” said Sen. Kolkhorst.
The Texas senator also touched on the length of the outage for millions of people in the Houston area being discussed at the meeting.
“[Asking] why this occurred, why so many people were without electricity for so long, and how can we improve that working together,” Sen. Kolkhorst shared.
Sen. Kolkhorst encouraged residents to approach their local leaders and policymakers if they want to make a change in their neighborhoods.
“Much of the Brazos Valley is covered by co-ops, electrical co-ops or what we call MSUs, municipally owned utilities. When you have a complaint by a constituent or a consumer, they go to an elected board. You actually elect board members. You’re able to go to them and file a complaint and demand better. We need to demand better,” added Sen. Kolkhorst.
