A Pipeline Giant Is Pushing Texas Power Plants to the Brink

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On the night after Valentine’s Day in 2021, a unit of the Handley natural gas power plant in Fort Worth, Texas, tripped offline as Winter Storm Uri sank temperatures into the single digits. Handley’s failure added to what was quickly becoming a statewide crisis that would leave millions without electricity, many for days.

There was one small silver lining: The pipeline feeding Handley now held natural gas that the plant couldn’t immediately use. Gas production was plummeting across Texas, and if pipelines ...