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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAl Gore Joins Tea Party in Battle Against Utilities
by Alex Nussbaum
If you go far enough left or right on the American political spectrum, you end up in the same place: trashing utilities for trying to kill the solar-power revolution.
If youre Al Gore, former Democratic vice-president and climate change activist, you blast Big Power for using the atmosphere as their sewage infrastructure to suck up carbon emissions and trying to shut down competition. The industry is waging a war on solar, he told investors Monday at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in New York City.
If youre Debbie Dooley, a national Tea Party activist who says state laws discriminate against residential solar, you tell the same audience that Americans want energy freedom and not government-sanctioned monopolies that tell consumers where they must buy power.
In back-to-back speeches, the political Odd Couple struck surprisingly similar tones on clean energys future, even if Gore dwelled on renewables role in avoiding catastrophic global warming while Dooley didnt use the words climate change at all, focusing on consumer choice.
This is a battle that we will win, said Dooley, a board member of the National Tea Party Patriots group. I am literally floored with the response I have been getting from conservatives with the right message.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-13/al-gore-joins-tea-party-in-battle-against-utilities
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)and the Tea party person is fighting for a personal interest. There is nothing to indicate her position is endorsed by any Tea Party group.
Nothing to see here.
think
(11,641 posts)to achieve a victory. Hopefully they can do the same thing Florida in 2016.
There is nothing wrong with working with opposing political groups when mutual interests can be furthered IMO...
From the article:
Florida may be next:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/tea-party-pushing-for-florida-to-step-up-solar-energy-efforts/2202617
Link to Ballotpedia.com Florida Right to Produce and Sell Solar Energy Initiative (2016) (original one wasn't working here for some reason):
http://goo.gl/EzJkQ8
MisterP
(23,730 posts)When Florida officials pulled the plug on a significant incentive for rooftop solar systems, the move came at the urging of big power companies with a heavy reliance on fossil fuels and of the state chapter of the NAACP.
The Florida chapter is one of a number of minority organizations that have aligned with utilities. Their backing has given power companies a potent ally in their fight to slow the spread of solar energy installations.
...
The National Black Caucus of State Legislators and the National Policy Alliance, which represents the Congressional Black Caucus as well as some 10,000 black lawmakers in all levels of government, have backed model legislation imposing surcharges and limiting the appeal of net metering. Their proposals are almost identical to bills favored by big energy companies.
"We want solar available for everybody, not just people who are wealthy," said Joe Gibbons, a former Florida lawmaker. He persuaded the National Black Caucus of State Legislators to pass a resolution that closely resembles one drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, the conservative advocacy group partially funded by utility companies.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-solar-race-20150209-story.html
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Just happen to be against the same entity for different reasons.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)Tea Party fights against utilities.
Gore begins to fight against utilities.
Gore has joined the fight against utilities.
Makes perfect sense.
JI7
(89,173 posts)He was speaking of an issue which sunshine else supports also and happens to be part of the tea party.
dembotoz
(16,737 posts)folks will learn which side of the bread is buttered