The resignations are the first since the crisis began in Texas, and calls for wider firings remain in the aftermath of one of the worst power outages in U.S. history, per the Associated Press.
All five of the board members who are stepping down – including Chairwoman Sally Talberg – live outside of Texas. Talberg and Board Vice-Chair Peter Cramton, Finance and Audit Committee Chair Terry Bulger, and Human Resources and Governance Committee Chair Raymond Hepper submitted a joint letter of resignation, acknowledging “the pain and suffering of Texans” who lost electricity, heat, and water during the extremely low temperatures last week, according to CNN.
According to the joint resignation letter, as filed with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the resigning members wrote they are resigning to “allow state leaders a free hand with future direction and to eliminate distractions.” They also said they have “noted recent concerns about out-of-state board leadership at ERCOT.”
Talberg lives in Michigan and Bulger lives in Wheaton, Illinois, according to their biographies on ERCOT’s website. Cramton and Hepper spent their careers working outside Texas. The fifth board member leaving is Vanessa Anesetti-Parra. Craig Ivey, a candidate for the board of directors, also withdrew his name for consideration for a seat on the board, also lives outside the state, according to AOL.com.
There are a total of 16 members on ERCOT’s board, which appoints officers who manage the grid manager’s day-to-day operations. The ERCOT website has been sanitized as of this evening.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott in a statement today said: “The lack of preparedness and transparency at ERCOT is unacceptable, and I welcome these resignations. The State of Texas will continue to investigate ERCOT and uncover the full picture of what went wrong, and we will ensure that the disastrous events of last week are never repeated.”
According to tax filings from 2018, Cramton received $87,000 in compensation and worked an average of five hours a week. Bulger got $65,250 and worked an average of eight hours a week. Three others on the board at the time were paid between $92,600 and $100,100, though it was not immediately known how many hours they worked. ERCOT valued Magness’s total compensation that year at $883,264.
