Tea party co-founder Debbie Dooley to address clean energy choice at SJU

Debbie Dooley, one of 22 co-founders of the national tea party and the founder and president of Conservatives for Energy Freedom, speaks at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in the Centenary Room (room 264), Quadrangle Building, Saint John’s University.

She will speak on “The Conservatives’ Case for a Free and Secure Energy Future.” The event is free and open to the public.

NOTE: The brown bag discussion with students, originally scheduled for noon on Tuesday, April 14, has been canceled.

Conservatives for Energy Freedom mobilizes libertarian and tea party activists for increased use of decentralized energy generation. Dooley became involved in the fight for clean energy choice after the birth of her grandson in 2008.

In her home state of Georgia, Dooley co-founded the Green Tea Coalition, which brought together conservatives and progressives to advocate for energy choice. The group successfully secured commitments for more than 600 megawatts of utility-scale solar energy in the state. She has fought for choice and free markets in the energy industry.

Dooley started her career in the information technology field as a systems administrator. She has been a grassroots activist since 1976 and has been involved in over 40 political campaigns and initiatives, fighting back many tax increases on both the local and state level.

According to a recent article in The New Yorker, Dooley is helping lead an effort in Florida to launch “a major ballot initiative that would amend that state’s constitution to allow individuals and businesses with solar panels to sell the power that they generate directly to their tenants or neighbors.”

Her visit is sponsored by the CSB and SJU Sustainability Alliance, the CSB Office of Sustainability and the CSB/SJU College Republicans.