Podesta says ideas formulated at event will shape legislation

John Podesta, chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said ideas under discussion at Monday’s National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 will help shape pending legislation in Congress, including a carbon cap-and-trade bill the Senate will consider in the fall.

Podesta also said retrofitting 50 million homes and small commercial buildings would create 625,000 sustained jobs in construction and manufacturing, and would save consumers up to $64 billion a year.

Podesta noted that several policies hammered out at last year’s summit, also at UNLV, have become law.

“We expect this discussion today will help form and inform the upcoming debate, and we’re confident it will reach Washington,” Podesta said.

Also, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, initially scheduled to appear, didn’t attend the summit, partly because of prison riots in California and partly because his mother-in-law, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, is gravely ill.