A divide has begun to unfold in the usually conservative Tea Party movement in Florida and more generally in the Southeast. Debbie Dooley, the founder of the so-called Green Tea Party, has launched an effort in Florida to push for so-called energy deregulation, but it appears to be yet another avenue for wealthy liberals to advance a radical environmentalist agenda.
Dooley’s group Conservatives for Energy Freedom, and just a few weeks ago launched a chapter here in Florida. Their main purpose is to expand solar energy use. Sounds innocent enough until you dig deeper. It appears that there are direct links between Dooley and her group and ultra-liberal billionaire Tom Steyer’s group Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. This is Halloween scary.
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy promotes a radical agenda of ending all use of fossil fuels at all costs, and they want to use state legislatures, state agencies, and the dreaded rule-making of the EPA to do it. Their policy notions are based on scattershot climatology reports, and they want to regulate and price the oil and gas industry out of existence.
Regardless of your views on the need for more renewable energy, accomplishing their goals will wreck the nation’s economy, put our national security at risk, and bankrupt the seniors and small businesses of this state.
Furthermore, it’s disturbing that Dooley appears to be in league with an effort by liberals to fund an undermining of our conservative movement. Steyer and SACE have pumped millions of dollars into the political bloodstream to defeat conservatives like Rick Scott and others across the country, and if successful, they will use their newly-elected liberal pals to implement their radical agenda. Cap and trade and all.
Conservatives need to be aware of this effort and not fall for a Steyer-driven agenda that will lead to yet more tyranny dictated by the EPA and other branches of government.