By Kevin McCauley
Podesta Group represents the U.S. Green Building Council, which is working to promote the White House's Better Buildings Initiative that was introduced by President Obama in February.
The Obama administration pitched the Initiative as a "win the future" program that would make commercial and residential buildings more energy efficient while creating "green jobs."
The USGBC, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Real Estate Roundtable released a study June 13 predicting the Initiative would generate 77,000 jobs and a ripple effect to bolster manufacturing and services if Congress approves various tax credits and deductions.
Roger Platt, senior VP of global policy & law at the USGBC, said the Initiative would "lower energy consumption, reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and allow America to retain its competitive edge in the international marketplace as a leader in constructing, retrofitting and operating high-performing buildings."
Podesta staffers lobbying on behalf of USGBC are Ed Rothschild, former executive director of American Public Gas Assn. and PA director of Citizen Action; Paul Brathwaite, ex-executive directorof the Congressional Black Caucus, Izzy Klein, forme communications director to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and David Morgenstern, aide to former Republican Senators Lincoln Chaffee (R.I.) and Paul Coverdell (Ga.) |