Rick Perry says Texans would rather be without power for days over more federal oversight

AUSTIN, Texas (KEYE) — Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry says that Texans find massive power outages preferable to having more federal government interference in the state's energy grid.

Perry, who also served as the Secretary of Energy in the Trump administration, made the comment in an interview with Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

In McCarthy's blog post, regarding the winter storm that has left millions of Texans without power amid sub-freezing temperatures, Perry blamed wind power in the state for the failure.

"If wind and solar is where we’re headed, the last 48 hours ought to give everybody a real pause and go wait a minute,” Perry said. “We need to have a baseload. And the only way you can get a baseload in this country is [with] natural gas, coal, and nuclear.”

RELATED: No, frozen wind turbines aren't the main culprit for Texas' power outages

McCarthy's blog also claims that "if the Biden Administration follows through on its talk to ban fossil fuels, this will happen again, and in more places than Texas."

Perry told McCarthy that “technology – not regulation” is how he believes Texas can ensure its grid can weather the next storm.

“Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business,” Perry said.

Read the full post here.