RTR3CY8F
25 Jan. 2013
Taylor, UNITED STATES
Reliability Coordinators Wes Watkins, left, and Kim Engram, right, monitor the state power grid during a tour of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) command center in Taylor, Texas August 14, 2012. The crisis facing Texas, and indeed large swathes of the U.S. economy that depend on seven regional grid operators to keep their delicate electricity systems in balance, has been years in the making as cheap natural gas and new environmental rules force the closure of dozens of older coal-fired units and deter the construction of new ones, while consumption steadily rises. REUTERS/Julia Robinson (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENERGY BUSINESS)
