Originally posted on January 26, 2026.

A new snowstorm shouldn’t be any surprise to anyone in January, certainly not to much of the country. What might surprise you is to realize is how darn lucky Americans are not to have had the Biden crowd succeed in forcing all coal plants to shut down.

In November, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. warned, “extreme winter conditions extending over a wide area could result in electricity supply shortfalls.” Guess what happened? It did.

According to the WSJ:

Frigid temperatures supercharged demand in areas where Americans use electricity for heating, especially in Texas.

In the Northeast and Midwest, where more people get heat from natural gas, less fuel was available for power plants. Add weather-caused plant outages, and you have all the ingredients for a grid emergency. Grid operators, the utilities and the Trump Energy Department had to pull out all stops to keep the lights and heat on for tens of millions of Americans.

Nonessential Appliances

Utilities also directed customers to lower temperatures, unplug “nonessential appliances, and reduce settings on electric heaters. As the WSJ wishes you all, hope you enjoyed your lukewarm fire, curling up with an old coat after.

The Energy Department also waived emissions rules so fossil-fuel plants could run at maximum capacity. Early Sunday morning, coal accounted for some 40% of power in the Midwest’s MISO grid, 24% in the eastern U.S. PJM Interconnection and 18% in Texas, with most of the rest coming from natural gas and nuclear.

New York’s blockade on gas pipelines has constrained the fuel supply for power plants across New England. Power plants in the region had to resort to burning oil, which accounted for 40% of electricity at times of peak demand. Get this—the region generated more power from burning wood and trash than from wind power.

Solar, wind, and batteries will replace fossil fuels, is the cry of greenies, but those sources didn’t contribute much.

The deep-freeze energy scare, warns the WSJ, underscores why the Energy Department issued emergency orders in recent months to “stop the political closure of coal plants” in the Midwest.

The grid needs all the coal power it can get when temperatures plunge or skyrocket. Environmental groups have challenged the department’s orders. Is the goal to reduce carbon emissions by making Americans freeze?