Business community calls for focus on power infrastructure

More than 850,000 people were still without power on Friday, four days after Beryl roared through Houston. Many were also without internet and cellphone service.

Small businesses of all types remained closed, unable to open without power even as customers flocked to restaurants, coffee shops and stores that were open, looking for a cool place to rest, WiFi or an available outlet at which to recharge phones and computers.

The Houston economy remains strong, by most accounts, with the region reaching more than 3.4 million payroll jobs in May – a record, and economic growth outpacing the nation’s over the past several years. Texas still retains its long-running reputation as one of the best states in the nation for doing business. But Beryl’s aftermath has revived the concerns about infrastructure that were seen as a matter of urgency after February 2021’s deadly Winter Storm Uri.  

“It is a black eye,” said University of Houston energy fellow Ed Hirs. “It’s indicative of the lack of investment in infrastructure.”

Steve Kean, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, said that the business leaders he’s spoken with this week have been focused on accommodating employees and reflecting on the region’s needs going forward. 

“Everybody’s dealing with this. The executives at these companies are dealing with power being out at home; their employees are, their families are,” he said. “We need to turn our attention to power infrastructure. Power leads to communications; it leads to a lot of other critical systems that we all rely on.” 

BERYL: CenterPoint CEO defends power delays, vows better communication after Hurricane Beryl

It will take months to arrive at an estimate of Beryl’s total economic impact, but the damage to property, at least, has clearly been considerable: according to estimates released this week by property data firm CoreLogic, the storm caused up to $600 million in losses to insured properties and businesses in Harris County, and statewide losses could reach $1.5 billion. 

Also costly, potentially, would be the perception that the state’s infrastructure is not up to snuff. Last year, Texas did not rank among CNBC’s top five states for business for the first time since the website began publishing the annual ranking in 2007. The state’s overall performance was hampered by a dead-last ranking for “quality of life,” as well as the infrastructure issues laid bare by Winter Storm Uri.

“For all of Texas’ strengths, serious problems are worsening,” CNBC wrote. 

In this year’s rankings, released Thursday, Texas re-entered the top five, placing third after Virginia and North Carolina. But the issues CNBC identified in last year’s survey persist, the survey noted. 

“With educated workers continuing to pour into the state, Texas boasts the best workforce in the nation, according to our study,” CNBC said. “But Texas also has power grid issues, and no site readiness program, dropping it to No. 26 for Infrastructure.” 

BERYL: Houston’s insured losses after Hurricane Beryl could total an estimated $600 million, experts say

To date, such concerns have had little measurable effect on the economic growth of the Houston region or the state. Hirs posited that Houston’s population and economic growth have added a certain degree of visibility to infrastructure issues, which are not unique to the state.

“This is a systemic problem across Texas, but it’s a systemic problem across the United States,” he said. 

Kean said that Houston has several advantages when it comes to improving infrastructure relative to other major coastal cities, including a business community and workforce that are attuned to resiliency. The Port of Houston, for example, fully reopened Thursday: “We’re a city that a lot of other cities depend on, and we continued to serve the rest of the country during this thing.” 

He expressed confidence in Houston’s ability to maintain its record of economic growth and to take the recovery from Beryl as an opportunity to do more, as Houston has done in the wake of previous storms. He pointed to the hardening of the Texas Medical Center after Hurricane Alicia in 1983 and investment of $10 billion in flood resiliency projects after Harvey in 2017. 

“The point is that we are resilient, but also, we’ve got to keep getting more resilient and learn from this storm as we’ve learned from previous storms,” he said.