The Electric Reliability Council of Texas—the corporation at the center of the power grid failure that left millions of Texans with heat or power last month and dozens of deaths—is refusing to turn over records related to its preparation for and response to Winter Storm Uri. In a letter sent to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office last week, ERCOT argued that it’s not subject to state open records law because it isn’t a public agency and have asked the AG’s office to rule as such.
Paxton’s office didn’t respond to inquiries seeking a timeline for its decision on the ERCOT letter, but generally the office has 45 business days to make a ruling on requests.
Joe Larsen, a Houston-based attorney who sits on the board of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, an open records advocacy organization, says the refusal could spur a legal fight and possibly end up at the state Supreme Court’s doorstep. “There are going to be a bunch of people out there” seeking information from the electric grid operator, Larsen says. ERCOT’s oversize impact in everyday Texans’ lives, along with its central role in the blackouts and its outright refusal to comply with state open records law, could mean a hotly argued and closely followed legal case.
