The White House on Thursday said a severe winter storm engulfing Texas and other states was the type of extreme weather event that climate change is triggering and proof that “we’re not adequately prepared for it,” Reuters reported.
White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall said 1 million or more people are still experiencing power outages as a result of the storm that has engulfed Texas and other areas of the United States.
Sherwood-Randall, speaking to reporters in a phone briefing, promoted Democratic President Joe Biden’s climate change agenda in addressing the storm, putting pressure on Republican leaders who have repeatedly denounced the Democrats’ proposed “green new deal” as a job killer.
She said the storm was an extreme weather event. “We’re not adequately prepared for it,” she said.
Sherwood-Randall said the storm, which has left millions of people in freezing temperatures without heat, adequate water pressure and other related problems, has exposed weaknesses in American infrastructure.
“Power grids across our country, particularly in Texas, are overloaded by the demands that are placed on them under these conditions, and the infrastructure is not built to withstand these extreme conditions,” she said.
Biden would lead an effort to “strengthen and harden our critical infrastructure so that it can be prepared to meet a full spectrum of challenges that we’re likely to face,” Sherwood-Randall added.
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