SAN ANTONIO – (Update: The briefing is over. Please check back for more livestreams on KSAT.com).
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat from San Antonio, on Friday will speak about “his own plan for a Texas wall” in response to the governor’s latest push for the barrier.
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Gutierrez will speak at 11:30 a.m. at the Willie M. Cortez Senior Multi-Service Center. The news conference will be livestreamed in this article; if there is not a livestream available, check back at a later time.
A post from the Twitter account for Gutierrez, who represents a large stretch of the Texas-Mexico border, suggests that the announcement will be centered around the state power grid’s plea for conservation.
“Texas should be building a grid instead of a wall,” the post read. “Many families are going through the heat without power or air conditioning and that should be priority #1.”
He also serves on the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and Border Security.
Abbott’s latest action on a border wall this week intersected with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ five-day conservation alert.
On Monday, ERCOT said that forced generation outages mixed with “potential record electric use” in June caused tight grid conditions.
ERCOT asked Texans to reduce electric use as much as possible through Friday, prompting the City of San Antonio and Bexar County to open cooling shelters.
Amid the plea, Metro Health issued a heat advisory for this weekend as temperatures are expected to reach between 97-99 degrees and 104 degrees on Monday.
Meanwhile, as Texans dealt with a struggling power grid, Abbott released new details about building the wall intended to “secure our border.”
The Republican governor said Wednesday that he will use $250 million in state money and crowdsourced financing for the barriers, part of an emerging proposal that also extends his political fight over immigration with the Democratic Biden administration, the Associated Press reported.
Over a dozen Republican members of the Texas House and Senate joined Abbott for a livestreamed press conference announcing his intentions to hire a project manager to continue constructing some version of a wall announced last week, echoing former President Donald Trump’s unfinished campaign promise to fortify the southern U.S. border, of which 1,200 miles is in Texas. Abbott also said he is asking the federal government to return land obtained for the U.S. government’s wall and return it to private citizens who can allow Texas to finish the job.
The state also has set up a webpage and post office box so anyone can donate money for Abbott’s wall.
Also on Wednesday, he said the state’s power grid is “better than ever.”
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