[ExI] A Tea Party activist supports solar power

[BillK]

Debbie Dooley is not a tree-hugger - in fact she bills herself as a
radical right-wing grandmother, and she is a founding member of the
national Tea Party and a leader of the Atlanta Tea Party.

<http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2014/09/11/qa-tea-party-star-heads-to-wisconsin-to-fight-for-solar/>

Quotes:
I began to get interested in energy with a fight we were carrying on
with Georgia Power. They're a monopoly here in Georgia. They were not
acting in the best interest of ratepayers in regards to some of their
policies. They were building two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, and
the utility customers were paying for that in advance. There were
massive cost overruns expected, and yet they were making a guaranteed
profit on the cost of the two reactors and the cost overruns.

I began to take a closer look at energy for that reason. I've always
been a free-market conservative. I began to realize a monopoly is not
a free market, a monopoly violates free-market principles. Solar is a
way to give monopolies very much needed competition. It also provides
consumer choice.

This is not a liberal issue, it has become a national security issue
for our country. The grid can be attacked. Look at the Silicon Valley
attack - they opened fire on some of the substations with AK-47s, took
them down, and they just vanished into the night. Our grid is so
centralized, it's a national security issue.

When I started doing research and seeing what We Energies is trying to
do in Wisconsin, I was appalled. Here you have a giant utility to
trying to protect their profit margin by taxing the sun and taxing
manure. You can call it whatever you want to, it is a tax. I think
that is totally ridiculous.

I believe conservatives who believe in the free market would be
receptive to the right message. If you go out and say we need solar
because of climate change and you hate coal, that's the wrong message.
If you go out and hold elected officials accountable for supporting
these monopolies, that's something conservatives will respond to.
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BillK