Devastating, freezing weather last winter season from Winter Storm Uri wreaked havoc on the state of Texas, paralyzing a power grid unaccustomed to handling record lows and leading to the deaths of more than 200 people. More than 5.2 million homes and businesses were at one point without power over the course of half a month. The crisis ended up costing Texas at least $195 billion in damages, and may very well become the priciest weather event in state history. Lawmakers vowed to fix Texas’ power grid by implementing regulations that forced companies like ERCOT and CenterPoint to act. What they passed, and what was eventually signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, looks to be all hat and no cattle.

The legislation, SB 2 and 3, asks energy providers to weatherize their equipment but offers no real timeline and few financial incentives for achieving that goal. A proposed $2 billion earmarked to offset upgrade costs for power companies was discussed but never established. Language in a state House bill related to off-setting costs instead allows companies to seek customer-backed bonds as the energy market looks to bounce back from this year. It’s also small change for an energy provider to simply skip upgrades altogether. Were a company like CenterPoint to incur the up to $1 million fine per day for not weatherizing equipment, it would only be shelling out a fraction of what it pays its C-suite executives annually in the form of base salary and various incentives—not that, say, CEO Devaid Lesar, the former head of Halliburton, needs the money.

Newly approved guidance from the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, struck down perhaps the most outrageous loophole found in SB 2 and 3 that would have allowed companies to pay a mere $150 application fee to opt out any facilities, regardless of criticality, from having to make those upgrades. The $150 fee is still an option for “marginal wells” that collectively produce just 1% of Texas’ power. Though certain requirements have been approved, the regulators must now establish a map identifying and categorizing the many wells, pipelines, and facilities that must weatherize. The process is expected to take until next September, with rules being rolled out up to six months after that. For now, Texans can do little but hope and pray they experience a mild winter.

Indeed, forecasters believe that this winter will be much drier and warmer than usual. According to the Climate Prediction Center, some regions of Texas could experience temperatures 50% higher than on average as the U.S. experiences its second La Niña winter in a row. This will ideally give power companies ample time to weatherize their equipment and ensure that energy sources do not go offline in the case of disaster. With Winter Storm Uri, the natural gas industry was stunned as supply slowed to a trickle.

Natural gas is the primary source of power in Texas and accounts for 26% of the country’s overall natural gas production. Frozen wells and components heavily contributed to the crisis, highlighting just how critical it is for facilities to be weatherized and how interconnected the U.S. is despite its independent power systems. Outages in Texas impacted states as far north as Minnesota, resulting in outages impacting thousands. Looking further toward the future, however, shows that natural gas should be on its way out.

Natural gas may produce fewer emissions than more damaging fossil fuels but it simply isn’t a solution to reach net-zero in a timely manner in order to mitigate climate change. Most natural gas plants merely compete with primary power sources and do little to ease the transition between, say, coal and renewables. They’re also costly and bulky, compared with wind and solar options with battery storage features that appear to be only getting more efficient and affordable with time. Looking into diversifying Texas’—and the rest of the country’s—energy portfolio is the only way forward when it comes to keeping the lights on and the planet from experiencing more dire consequences due to climate change.