Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) holds a press briefing about Hurricane Beryl response efforts.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank everybody for being with us here today. We want to update you on the
00:03ongoing response to Hurricane Beryl. First of all, however, I want to thank
00:08mattress Mac for hosting this event today, but more importantly, thank him
00:11for what he does for the greater Houston area every single day. I'm not
00:16familiar with a citizen, a resident in any community anywhere who does more
00:21for his community selflessly than does master mattress Mac. This community
00:26would not be what it is without you and what without your unparalleled help,
00:31especially for those who need it the most. So Mac, thank you very much for
00:35what you do and for hosting this. So as usual, our number one goal first and
00:44foremost is to protect life. An issue that we see in the ongoing response to
00:49Hurricane Beryl are life based issues, not because of the hurricane itself, but
00:54because of the lack of power supply, because of extreme heat, because of the
01:00lack of the power. There are lives at risk every single day. Also, because that
01:05according to the police chief, we've seen a slight uptick in criminal
01:10behavior. So once again, the top priority to make sure that we protect more lives
01:15is to make sure we get that power back on as quickly as possible. Another issue
01:21that we are dealing with also once again, mostly because of the lack of power, is a
01:27lack of adequate food. One thing that the state of Texas has done working with our
01:32local officials is to provide meals that are ready to eat delivered in whatever
01:39amount of supply is requested by local officials. Similarly, we are facing
01:44challenges with regard to water, both with regard to the meals. Meals have been
01:49lost because people have not had the power on in their house or apartment and
01:55as a result, their food has spoiled and the meals are needed because of lack of
02:00power. The lack of power is because of center point. Same thing with regard to
02:04water. Water is needed for a lot of different reasons. The state of Texas
02:09once again is working with our local partners to make sure that there are
02:12adequate water supplies as well as ice that will meet any demand that's
02:18articulated by local officials. Another thing that the state of Texas
02:23continues to respond to our ongoing medical needs. As you are surely aware,
02:29there are hospitals and other health care facilities that have had lack of
02:33power because of that lack of power in health care facilities. There has been
02:37an increased need for the state to assist in providing. It could be
02:41supplies, equipment, all different kinds of things to help local health care
02:45providers be able to meet the needs of people who are injured, people who are
02:50hurt, people who were already patients in health care facilities. That process
02:55by the state of Texas to respond to those medical needs continues. The last
02:59thing I mentioned on these lines right now is the ongoing effort by the state
03:04of Texas to work with local officials to make sure that their needs
03:09concerning public safety are met. And what that means is continuing the
03:14process of the state of Texas, either bringing in or organizing more law
03:19enforcement officers to assist Houston and other local police and making sure
03:25they will maintain the safety of their communities. The most enduring problem
03:32because a barrel, however, is the lack of power. The failure of power
03:39companies to provide power to their customers is completely unacceptable.
03:45Power companies along the Gulf Coast must be prepared to deal with
03:50hurricanes. To state the obvious early appearances, however, suggest that some
03:56power companies are not adequately prepared for a hurricane like barrel
04:01Central Point in particular has repeatedly failed to deliver power to
04:06customers for extended periods to accelerate that process and to make sure
04:13that we look into exactly what has happened and what must be done to
04:17correct it. I am sending a letter to Thomas Gleason today. Thomas Gleason is
04:23the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission on the letter requires the
04:28P. U. C. To undertake an investigation of exactly what has happened by
04:34Centerpoint. Find out what the reason for failure was, what must be done to
04:38fix it. So there will be the public utilities investigation. There'll be
04:44investigations and recommendations both by the P. U. C. As well as by state
04:49legislators on remedial action to be taken by Centerpoint as well as other
04:53power companies. I will work with legislators to craft laws to improve
04:59power reliability. But and here's the important part. We are still in
05:05hurricane season right now and solutions cannot wait until the next
05:11session. They are needed now to minimize power disruptions as we respond
05:18to tropical weather for the remainder of the summer and this fall to help
05:23avoid more power outages during the remainder of hurricane season. I will
05:28set the following minimum standards for Centerpoint. I will give Centerpoint
05:35until July the 31st to provide my office with specific actions that they
05:41will take to address the following issues that focus on improving power
05:46reliability. Number one removal of any vegetation that threatens any power
05:54line in the geographic region covered by Centerpoint. Centerpoint admitted
06:00that barrel was a heavy vegetation related storm. Centerpoint is
06:05responsible for eliminating the vegetation before a hurricane hits. Some
06:12reports show that Centerpoint spends far less per customer on vegetation
06:17removal than some other power providers. So here is my order to
06:23Centerpoint. They must provide in detail what Centerpoint will do to
06:28eliminate all vegetation issues and that information must be received by
06:35I'm sorry the removal must be accomplished by August the 31st. Many
06:41reports agree that Centerpoint appeared to have been caught off guard by the
06:47unexpected arrival of barrel in Houston and as well as the magnitude of the
06:53devastation that it caused. A power company on the Gulf Coast should never
06:58be caught off guard. It must remain eternally vigilant and even then a
07:03category one hurricane should never compromise the power system in the state
07:08of Texas that is the official hurricane season that we're in right now.
07:15Centerpoint must specify actions that it will take in the coming months that it
07:21did not take in barrel that will reduce or eliminate power outages in the event
07:26of another tropical storm arriving at the Gulf Coast. Number three Centerpoint
07:33claims that it has assembled thousands of additional linemen and other
07:37personnel to speed the recovery process. Some reports contend however that many
07:43of those workers were slow getting into the field because of a variety of
07:48different reasons. One was training workers after the hurricane hit rather
07:54than training those workers before the hurricane hit. Another was positioning
07:58workers days after the hurricane was gone rather than positioning those
08:03workers immediately after the hurricane left. Another is haggling with workers
08:09overpay and the list goes on. The bottom line however is this regardless of the
08:15reason Centerpoint did not have an adequate number of workers pre-staged to
08:23immediately address the power outage. So my demand upon Centerpoint they must
08:29specify what actions they will take to pre-stage a sufficient number of workers
08:35to be able to meet the immediate respond to any power outages that may occur for
08:41any tropical storm that hits their service region for the remainder of this
08:45hurricane season. Additionally allegations have been made that while
08:51Texans have been baking in deadly heat without power, Centerpoint was
08:57penny-pinching and cutting corners in ways that slow the recovery process.
09:01Those allegations must be investigated. We must know was Centerpoint protecting
09:09Texans or was it protecting its own pocketbook. Centerpoint admits among
09:16other things on another issue that its new poles are better than its old poles
09:24especially as it concerns grid reliability. But at risk to this region
09:30Centerpoint appears to be waiting until the end of hurricane season to address
09:37the pole issue. It is waiting on a funded decision by the PUC that will
09:43take place required by law by the end of October. Centerpoint must get those poles
09:49fixed before hurricane season strikes again before hurricane strikes again not
09:55after hurricane season is over. Another issue Centerpoint failed to keep power
10:04on for some hospitals, nursing homes, and senior living facilities. My demand is
10:11that Centerpoint must show with certainty how it will retain or
10:16quickly restore power for those at-risk Texans before another tropical storm
10:23hits. And here's the ultimate point. If Centerpoint fails to comply with this
10:29request or provides insufficient information by July the 31st I will
10:36issue an executive order in response to any impending tropical storm to impose
10:43my own requirements on Centerpoint that are geared to keep power on through
10:48hurricane season until the next legislative session. Also if Centerpoint
10:55does not comply I will demand that the Public Utilities Commission reject
11:00Centerpoint's request to recover a profit in its pending request before the
11:07Public Utilities Commission. Additionally if Centerpoint is unable to fix its
11:13ongoing problems at some point in time either the PUC or the state of Texas
11:19will have to reconsider the territorial region that Centerpoint is managing or
11:26rather mismanaging. Maybe they have too large of an area for them to be able to
11:31manage adequately. It's time to reevaluate whether or not Centerpoint
11:36should have such a large territory. Also let me be clear about another point
11:42that is extraordinarily important. There are linemen for Centerpoint who are
11:51working to get power back on. Those linemen in many regions across this area
11:57are being physically threatened sometimes attacked by people on the
12:03streets endangering their lives and discouraging them from even going out
12:08into the field and getting the power back on. For one if there's no reason
12:14why anybody here should ever be threatening the life of anybody else
12:19period. Second if you're angry about the lack of power you're taking out on the
12:26wrong person if you're interfering with somebody who's trying to get the power
12:30back up. Also if you're wanting to get the power back on your actions that
12:36intimidate or threaten the linemen or whoever's trying to get the power back
12:40on you're not speeding up the process of getting the power back on you're
12:43slowing that process down. Last thing I'll say is this this region has a motto
12:52and that motto is Houston strong. People in this area are proud of their
12:58resilience perseverance and tenacity and the ability to rise above challenges and
13:04accomplish things that other people think are impossible. That very same
13:10moxie will elevate this region in our state above this challenge too. Now
13:17lieutenant governor Dan Patrick. Thank you governor. I know everyone at
13:24Centerpoint who's in an air-conditioned office is watching. A freight trains
13:30coming. You just heard it. You better be prepared whether you're at the top or
13:36any part of management who oversaw this response or preparation everybody's job
13:44should be on the line. We will not and cannot tolerate this. I'm sitting here
13:49looking at this saying that Mac has up on the wall. Respect is earned by
13:55consistent excellent behavior over long periods of time. Centerpoint once I would
14:04say was a company that we had confidence in. All of us up here and most of the
14:09public we've had many storms they've responded well. They totally failed in
14:14preparation and they failed in response. They have lost respect from the city of
14:21Houston and the surrounding areas that they service. I asked 10 questions
14:29proposed 10 questions that we will ask during Senate hearings and we will have
14:34Senate hearings. Right now my focus is get everybody to get the power up. Don't
14:38worry about answering the questions today. Get the power on. We have people
14:42suffering out there today in hundred degree heat that have not had power and
14:46won't have it for another day or two or more. But we will have hearings beginning
14:51in August and there will be lots of questions. But one of my first questions
14:55is the Centerpoint still look at Houston is a priority of their business. They're
15:01a different company than they used to be. Is it all as the governor said at the
15:07bottom line and not about human life? Mac is a successful business person because
15:14he says buy it today I'll deliver it tonight. Well if I don't get my
15:17tempur-pedic mattress from Mac tonight I don't die. If they don't deliver when
15:22they're expected to deliver people have and will die. Secondly when it comes to
15:29storms they were not prepared. They did not think this was going to be a serious
15:34storm. They didn't think it was going to hit Houston. It's obvious by their
15:37preparation. Centerpoint has to understand as does every utility company
15:42on the coast that anytime there's a tropical storm in the Gulf whether it's
15:47predicted to be a hurricane or not you have to prepare as if it's going to be
15:52the worst storm to hit Houston where the biggest population is or any area they
15:57cover or any other company. Nim kid and I this past week have worked together and
16:03the one thing we said from the first day on and the governor and I talked about
16:07the state of Texas has to pray for the best and prepare for the worst.
16:11Centerpoint did not prepare for even the least and that's why we are here.
16:17This is not tolerable and to dovetail on what the governor said about those
16:22attacking we had one attack by gunfire on Thursday two on Friday one yesterday.
16:28I think we as the legislature need to look at the penalties for that crime and
16:32ratchet it up because let me tell you what some of these people that have come
16:37in from states all over the country they turned around and went home. Who's
16:41going to come to Texas and help Houstonians if Houstonians are shooting
16:45at them? That must stop. There will always be idiots. There will always be people
16:52who have had too much to drink and people have had too much anger for
16:55whatever reason. There is no excuse no matter how much you've been sweltering
17:00in the heat for criminal behavior and to attack someone as the governor said
17:05trying to help you but we're gonna stop that and you're gonna face a long time
17:09in jail if you ever do that. So everything the governor has said I can
17:15speak for the Senate we're all on board this freight train that's coming and
17:19once again I say to Centerpoint you need to look within yourselves. I don't really
17:26care about your internal investigation except to supply us with answers but I
17:31want to know are you short of transformers? I want to know as the
17:35governor said did you cut corners? I want to know why you've cut your spending on
17:39vegetation and clearing the areas. I want to know have you been out there
17:45negotiating with crews that came in from out of outer state of how much you're
17:50gonna pay them and I want to know this business model. After the storm you say
17:57you need a day or more of assessments. We get it okay where's the damage and we
18:03know there's 48 hours of training for out-of-state crews so they're not
18:07electrocuted all systems aren't the same so they don't damage the systems more
18:11but if you already have a business model that says I need a day or a day and a
18:15half of assessments and I need two days to train we're already four days down
18:20the line governor before we're getting power back except the easiest cases
18:25where you lift a branch or lift a tree. That's a bad flawed business model.
18:29Centerpoint you better respond or we will support the governor if need be
18:37looking at the territory you represent. Now to Nimkid. Thank you governor. Life
18:45safety continues to be the number one priority of all the state agencies that
18:49are engaged in this mission. That's from the Texas Department of Transportation
18:52the Department of Public Safety, our Forest Service folks, the Commission on
18:57Environmental Quality, our search and rescue teams, our public work response
19:00team, our communication coordination group and right now most importantly our
19:03Department of State Health Services emergency medical task force. We have
19:06opened up a 250 bed field hospital or medical shelter and that has had a
19:11hundred and twenty patients run through that facility. That helps alleviate
19:14strain on the hospital so that our EMS units can get people dropped off at the
19:18ER and get back out on the street for the next 911 call. We will continue to
19:22bring police and law enforcement support here. You have over 80 outside
19:26members of the Department of Public Safety on the streets over 100 local
19:29law enforcement that we will extend or continue at the direction of Chief
19:32Satterwhite who was meeting with us earlier today working very closely with
19:37Mayor Whitmire on these additional resources that we're bringing in from
19:39the outside and we have food and water and ice available to our local partners
19:44that asked for it. Governor, we continue to source generators for those
19:47locations as power does come back up. We're moving those generators around and
19:51we're not leaving until power is back on and our system is back to normal.
19:56Now, Metro smack. Thank you very much. I, uh,
20:00I was here
20:03Sunday night
20:05looking at the weather forecast as all of us Houstonians and Texans were and
20:12as was said, didn't know if the hurricane is going to hit Houston or
20:15not, but I didn't want to sleep in my luxurious Tempur-Pedic at home.
20:21And get stuck in the flood water. So I slept in my little bathroom over there
20:26on a bad mattress because I have learned in my life that the best
20:31ability is availability. We want to be available in case the proverbial stuff
20:39hit the fan and it certainly did on Monday. So we opened our doors here at
20:43gallery furniture.
20:45By the way, we've been on a generator power since the hurricane hit. We got
20:50back on regular power this morning at four a.m. But we have, we are lucky
20:55enough to have a generator here so we can welcome people in. We decided to
20:59become a cooling center for people and we decided to feed them breakfast,
21:04lunch and dinner. And we also decided to have a place where they could power
21:08their devices.
21:10Monday through Thursday, we had 15,000 people in here, about 3500 people
21:15eating every day.
21:17And
21:18we did that because it's the right thing to do.
21:22I wish I could just hire people to deliver furniture during the busy
21:26holiday times.
21:28We have 1000 deliveries on the 4th of July and we have 100 the other days. We
21:34got to gear up for 1000 all the time. Centerpoint doesn't think like that.
21:38Centerpoint's thinking we don't want to spend the money. We want to make a lot
21:42of bottom line so our execs can get paid. Well, let me tell you something,
21:45Mr. Centerpoint, all of us, we don't summer in Aspen, we summer in Houston.
21:52And this is a real place. And these are real people. These are my people
21:57coming in here crying because they're hot and they're miserable and they're
22:00dying. These are the people that hospital sent out here that needed a
22:04heart rate charger for their hearts. Otherwise they were going to die. These
22:09are real people, mothers coming in here breastfeeding their Children because
22:13it's so stifling hot at home and the executives at center pointless. Don't
22:17get that. Put the people before the profit. Put the people before the
22:23profit. These are my people and you are making our people suffer through your
22:28heartless attitude of money, money, money, money, money. Well, you know,
22:31you can't take it with you. One of these days all of us are going to stand in
22:35front of our creator, whoever we might believe that creator to be. And at that
22:40time, the creator is not going to ask your eye. How much money governor did
22:45we make?
22:47Or how many material possessions did we accumulate? That creator will ask us
22:51what type of difference did you make? I want to thank these three men up here
22:55and countless first responders, men and women all over our city and county and
23:00all the hard working people who have worked 20 hours a day to help people
23:03out during this horrible hurricane and center pointless. You ought to be
23:08ashamed of yourself, not the line workers, the line workers, the greatest
23:12people on earth. We're out here delivering water and Gatorade to him
23:15and Chick-fil-A cards yesterday and they're great people from all across
23:19the country. They're working 16 to 18 hours a day in the sweltering heat. But
23:24the center point executives up there cutting costs so their end of the year
23:28bonus is bigger. Shame on you. We got to get ready for hurricanes. We have
23:33hurricanes in Houston. We got to get ready for it. We got to deal with it
23:37and we got to understand at the end of the day life is not about money. Life's
23:41about making people's lives better. And when we have no gasoline in Houston, no
23:47gasoline, you couldn't gas up your car anywhere. Fist fights everywhere. Two
23:51pregnant women fought down the street about who's going to get gasoline. No
23:56gasoline. How about no food? How about a young family that's living paycheck to
24:02paycheck that all the food in their refrigerator spoils and all the food in
24:07their freezer spoils and that's $1,000. That's a lot of money they just tore up.
24:12How about all these people at restaurants, at retailers, at different
24:17business manufacturers, whatever. They had no electricity. They closed for the last
24:21week and all their employees got zero paycheck. How do you deal with that
24:25center pointless? You can't deal with that in Aspen. You need to get on the ground in
24:30Houston and do your job. You need to do your job. And I'll give you one more
24:35thing to think about center pointless. This is a world now of immediate
24:40gratification. Think Amazon. Right. Think gallery furniture. Think cell phones. Ten
24:46years ago when we had hurricane response out here, people would come in here, they
24:50had no thought of charging their cell phone. Now they can't live without their
24:54cell phone. They want to talk and see if their loved ones are okay. They want to
24:58figure out how to get geographic directions across Houston. And their cell
25:02phones, the main thing they come in here for is, yes, they come in here for food
25:06and for air conditioning, but they're also coming in to charge their cell
25:09phones. And when the power goes down around town for seven days, all that's
25:14gone. So let's put people before profit center pointless. Let's think about the
25:21people you're causing memory to, because, misery to, because I see
25:25him out here every day and it makes me sick. I don't care about how much money
25:30I make. My daddy and my mother taught me how much a difference you're gonna make,
25:34boy. And that's why we're all here.
25:45Thank you, Mac. And once again, thank you for everything that you do for this
25:50community and for our state. We're far better because of you. We'll be happy to
25:55take a few questions.
26:06We have considered it. And actually, we spoke about it in the meeting before we
26:10came out here. A valid point was made that we just need to look into. And that
26:15is in areas in particular, like Houston, that oftentimes get inundated very
26:20heavily when storms come through. In particular, think of Hurricane Harvey.
26:25If you have buried lines, the lines could get compromised underwater for a
26:30long time. It may make it even longer to access those lines to improve those
26:35lines than it would lines that would have been blown down that were otherwise
26:41up in the air. Just know this, and that is the Public Utilities Commission, the
26:47Legislature and myself. We will all look at the possibility of maybe
26:53strategic bearing of lines, maybe with regard to new construction, for example,
26:58and some other ways, if it is in areas that will ensure that it's not gonna be
27:02compromised if it is buried.
27:05Mhm.
27:17I made certain demands today of Centerpoint that requires Centerpoint
27:21to provide solutions to me by July the 31st. If they failed to do so, I will
27:29use the authority given to me by law to use executive orders that have the
27:34effect of law that requires Centerpoint to do what I expect them to do to keep
27:41power on in the event that there is another tropical storm that hits this
27:45area.
27:47And something people in Harris County at least that have died from hypothermia
27:52power.
27:59So obviously there will be investigations about the loss of life
28:03and any connection between the loss of life and the actions of Centerpoint. And
28:08the consequences Centerpoint will face for that could vary from local
28:12authorities to what the state may do. But it certainly will be an issue that
28:16the state will evaluate. And either there are currently are penalties that
28:19are in place or surely is something that the P. U. C. Can use to evaluate
28:24as it is currently considering the plan before the P. U. C. That will be
28:28decided before the end of October. What type of penalties to impose on
28:33Centerpoint?
28:35What I'm saying and feel to the fire Centerpoint is calling individual on
28:40their phone saying that power has been restored, but it has not on my street.
28:46Everybody's in their 70s and 90s on breathing machines. And as of right now,
28:50nobody's still out of power, but they keep saying that we do. They're lying
28:55to us and it's making people act out.
29:00Well, so you're making a key insightful point and that is as bad as
29:05Centerpoint has been at keeping the power on, they've been worse in
29:10communicating with their customers and with the public. So the
29:14communications aspect of it is something that the Public Utilities
29:17Commission is working on as we speak and may impose orders on Centerpoint
29:23here in the coming weeks. It'll also be part of my process to make sure that
29:28Centerpoint is communicating appropriately. I will tell you this and
29:32that is it does seem that the communication by Centerpoint is at a
29:37new low. In other words, they used to do a better job of communicating for
29:42reasons none of us can comprehend. Their communication has worsened. We
29:47were talking before we came out that had Centerpoint just let the public
29:52know, listen, this is a bad storm. Power lines are down. It's gonna take us
29:55about a week to get power back up and running again. That could have allowed
29:59residents to make one set of decisions because they did not say that
30:03Centerpoint did not say that it led customers, Houstonians to think, well,
30:08my power may be back up in 24 to 48 hours, and they stuck around only to be
30:13left in a hopeless situation. Bottom line is this.
30:18The communications component of Centerpoint is unacceptable, will not
30:23be allowed to persist. Corrections are coming whether they like it or not.
30:30Go ahead.
30:39Help.
30:46Sure, I'll give you both. But here's the deal. Because part of my answer to
30:51your first question is gonna be also provided by Chief Nim kid. But let me
30:56let me go take your questions in order. You said what can the state do to help
31:01out? So the state is fully engaged in helping out local communities long
31:07before a storm even hits. The first thing we do is to get organized and
31:12make sure that the state and local governments are prepared for whatever
31:16type of storm may come in. That means that we are sending out supplies and
31:22resources to every location that could be affected by storm so that without
31:27having to wait, we will be able to respond. Could be with search and
31:30rescue teams. It could be with boats. It could be with high water vehicles. It
31:34could be that the supplies that are needed and on the supplies. So the way
31:38that the state has helped out food, water, ice, cooling centers, all of
31:45those. And so much more. The state's been involved in a unique situation
31:50here is because of inadequate power, it forced hospitals to have to retain in
31:56their hospital people who were injured or had to be taken care of, and they
32:01could not discharge their patients. And as a result, it was the state that
32:05stepped in to assist local government to set up the facility at NRG to assist
32:12with addressing health care situations of local citizens. There's more that
32:17chief kid will be able to add. But let me answer your second question.
32:23What happened yesterday is horrific. It's a sad day in America when we see
32:29an assassination attempt. Assassinations, to say the least, are
32:35unacceptable and as sad and horrific as it was to see the former president of
32:43the United States of America and a candidate for the presidency again to
32:48be attacked in a deadly way.
32:51We almost understand that in that attack, when fellow American loses
32:57life,
32:59another American injured. This is not some game. This is not politics.
33:07A real human being lost their life. A family will never be able to see again.
33:12So this is a sad and tragic day.
33:16But we also must understand this.
33:19This is unfortunately not an isolated incident we have seen during the course
33:24of this hurricane. For example, here in the Houston area, you've seen a
33:28sheriff's deputy assassinated. That is completely unacceptable. You saw
33:35another police officer who was shot. The attack on public officials is an
33:43outrage.
33:45Another thing about yesterday.
33:48It's really astonishing
33:51that we saw the president, former president
33:54be shot
33:56but suffer only a wound to his ear.
33:59Anybody's thought anything about that knows that had that shot been a
34:03millimeter or two
34:05different, he would have been a victim of assassination.
34:12Trump is truly blessed
34:15by the hand of God being able to evade being assassinated.
34:20But shows you when you when you look at
34:24what he's been through yesterday,
34:28the trials and tribulations that has been through not just yesterday, but
34:32through the entirety of the past year.
34:35There's no one in America who has
34:39the strength, physical, mental and emotional
34:43to be able to stand up to that, to be able to respond to that, to be able to
34:47deal with all of that. He is the mightiest warrior
34:51that we have in the United States of America.
34:56Another thing I'll add is in the last thing I'll add, and that is that
35:00he showed his character last night and his first response.
35:07One thing that Dan and I know, because we know him personally, that most
35:10Americans and most Texans don't know.
35:13The first thing Donald Trump thinks about
35:16is other people, and he revealed that, and the first thing that he shared
35:21publicly with people in the aftermath of getting shot,
35:25the first thing he talked about was thanking the Secret Service.
35:28But then the second thing he talked about was not himself,
35:32but the other victims of what happened.
35:35That is who he is all the time,
35:39caring about others before caring about himself.
35:43And so it's a sad day,
35:47but it's a day where Donald Trump showed his character and his resiliency.
35:54I'll let Chief Kidd answer the remainder of the question about what Texas has done.
35:59Thank you. I think the most important thing that we remember about disaster
36:02is nobody goes through and nobody does this alone.
36:05The people that are closest to the citizens are your local elected officials,
36:09your mayors, your county judges, your council members.
36:11The next step above that is the men and women standing behind me,
36:14your state representatives and state senators.
36:16I communicate daily with our local elected officials.
36:19Our team communicates daily with these offices here.
36:22As that information gets passed up,
36:24that's how we know what needs are at the local level.
36:27Our State Emergency Management Council, the 39 state agencies
36:30that support disaster response and recovery,
36:32work together to satisfy those needs that are passed to us
36:36through our local and state officials.
36:37With that, we are going to continue to provide food,
36:40water and ice and safety and shelter for as long as it is needed.
36:43Governor, can I just add something?
36:47We went to Matagorda, we went to Jasper,
36:50we talked with county judges everywhere.
36:51We were in Bryan College Station, we were in Houston.
36:54Within a few days, there was not one mayor or one county judge
36:59that said they had not gotten what they asked for from the state.
37:02Everything they asked for in advance they had,
37:04everything they asked for the day after the storm they had,
37:06or it was on its way like a gallery furniture truck.
37:10So, I applaud NIM and look,
37:14we have the best emergency management division in the country.
37:18We've invested hundreds of millions of dollars
37:21to our staging center in College Station.
37:23We had our teams in there on Friday from Missouri and Tennessee.
37:29We had everything ready, whether it was divers for rescues,
37:33boats in the water, whatever was needed.
37:35We were hauling ice in this week from Alabama.
37:40Ten truckloads. Why?
37:42Because we don't want to buy all the ice from all the local stores
37:45because people are trying to buy their own ice at the local stores.
37:47So, we extend, and the state has delivered.
37:51Your counties and your cities have delivered.
37:55I want to salute John Whitmire.
37:58This was his first, not rodeo, he's been to that many times,
38:01but this was his first storm.
38:02And he and Chief Satterwhite did a tremendous job
38:05and have been doing a tremendous job.
38:07And I will say, the mayor, too, like those of us here,
38:11we care about people and put people first.
38:13And so, I thank the mayor.
38:15But NIM, as always, you and your team and everyone,
38:19it's a tiered effort and everyone really worked together.
38:23But if we don't have power, a lot of things we want to do can't happen.
38:28Go ahead.
38:30I'll come to you.
38:32Get his hand up right here. I'll come back to you next.
38:34Governor, we understand Centerpoint
38:37and a number of other gigantic energy conglomerates
38:42since deregulation have run into the same problem.
38:46We've looked at Pacific Gas and Electric
38:48burning down half the state of California.
38:51We've looked at Southern California Gas
38:53blowing out the underground storage facility
38:56and letting the gas escape into the atmosphere.
38:59For months and months and months,
39:00we even saw presidential candidate Robert Kennedy
39:03take on Southern California Gas.
39:07Given the Centerpoint fumble that we're living in,
39:12is it time to re-regulate utilities?
39:18You know, sometimes whenever people see a problem arise,
39:23they think maybe there's more regulation needed
39:25or you need to impose more heavy-handed government.
39:30Let me tell you the way we discuss this before coming out.
39:33To help you understand, that may not be the right answer.
39:36I ask a very specific question to the chair
39:39of the Public Utilities Commission
39:41as well as to Chief Nemkid.
39:44And that is, are you seeing these same problems
39:48with other power companies? And I mentioned a few.
39:51And the answer everyone agreed upon is
39:54we have a lot of power companies in the state of Texas.
39:57But we're not seeing similar problems
39:59with other power companies.
40:01The point is this.
40:03This is an issue and a failing
40:07that is unique to Centerpoint.
40:09We don't need to reconstruct a new system.
40:12We just need better results from one company
40:16that has showed repeated failure in this region.
40:21Let's have one more question.
40:23You talked about what federal assistance has been requested
40:27and do you think that assistance
40:29will be requested soon enough?
40:31Of course, a few days ago there was a request
40:33but that would take half a decade away.
40:35Do we have enough assistance coming
40:37and should they request it soon?
40:39So, the full answer to all this
40:41is going to be provided by Chief Nemkid
40:43who has the most information about it.
40:46So many fire stations.
40:48So, the question is
40:50should it have been requested sooner?
40:52And the answer is no.
40:54It should not have been.
40:56By federal law, states are required
40:58to do damage assessments.
41:00Now, as Governor Patrick mentioned,
41:02our Texas legislature has put hundreds
41:04of millions of dollars into this state's readiness.
41:06There was not a piece of equipment,
41:08not a bottle of water, or not a meal ready to eat
41:10that we did not have available for our local partners.
41:12That's part number one.
41:14Part number two, we need to go back
41:16to the dollars that have been granted
41:18by various presidents over the years.
41:20Remember, FEMA reimburses after the fact.
41:22That means these local governments
41:24have to spend those dollars ahead of time
41:26and then apply for reimbursement
41:28which, on historical averages,
41:30takes 10 to 12 years to get that money back.
41:32So, we are wasting effort right now
41:34talking about how fast things should have done
41:36when everything that our local officials
41:38asked for was delivered
41:40and our stations were set up
41:42and our resources were ready ahead of the storm.
41:44Governor, do you still plan to attend the RNC this week?
41:46And then, just to follow up
41:48on what you mentioned, Mr. Kidd,
41:50in both Hannah and Harvey,
41:52the major disaster declaration
41:54was requested
41:56before the storm hit.
41:58Does that make any sense
42:00and if it did, would you have done that?
42:02So, with regard to your first question,
42:04listen, I'm taking what I do
42:06on a day-by-day basis.
42:08My priority is
42:10making sure that the people
42:12of Houston, Texas
42:14and this entire region that are affected
42:16by Hurricane Beryl,
42:18that's my top priority, period.
42:20Second, with regard to
42:22let's say
42:24any type of declaration
42:26or any other action
42:28that may have been taken had I been here.
42:30Let me make clear about something.
42:32Had I been here
42:34the entire time,
42:36there would be absolutely nothing
42:38that would be any different.
42:40The decision that would have been made
42:42would have been exactly the decision
42:44I would have made.
42:46Also, along those lines,
42:48I was in frequent contact
42:50with I think Governor Dan Patrick.
42:52I talked to Nim Kidd
42:54three, four, five, six times
42:56a day, whatever the number was
42:58and know this
43:00and that is
43:02our daily
43:04or let's say nightly conversations
43:06ended with the same
43:08five words every day.
43:10Are there any unmet needs?
43:12And that's always
43:14the goal, making sure we finish every single
43:16day with no
43:18unmet needs. I got the same answer
43:20every time. There were
43:22no unmet needs.
43:28So again, right now my decision
43:30is to remain here
43:32and make sure that we are addressing
43:34the needs of the public. I'm working on
43:36a day-by-day basis. Today is Sunday.
43:38I can tell you I'm going to be here tomorrow
43:40is the fact and we'll
43:42see how things progress
43:44with regard to the response to Hurricane
43:46Beryl.