"As Nevada goes, so goes the nation," she said, as the audience inside Cox Pavilion applauded.

The clean-energy market is a $6 trillion global market, Cantwell said, and that means major job opportunities for the Silver State and the rest of the country.

Cantwell highlighted the remarks of UNLV professor Keith Schwer, who directs the university's Center for Business and Economic Research.

"As Professor Schwer said, you can not only produce enough energy for us here in the United States, but some of that can help make the United States a leader in energy technology that we can export to other countries," she said.

Cantwell also referred to earlier remarks from oilman T. Boone Pickens, who spoke of the national-security boost the nation could receive if it switched trucks from diesel fuel to natural gas.

Transitioning 6.5 million 18-wheelers to natural-gas fuel would cut in half the need for oil imported from Venezuela and other countries sometimes unfriendly to the United States, Pickens said. A law before Congress now would mandate the change, which could happen within the decade, Pickens predicted.

Observed Cantwell: "When an oilman from Texas says we need to get off of oil, it can't be any clearer."

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.