Politico reported yesterday in “10 to watch: Senators on energy“:

“With Republicans controlling the House and ramping up oversight and investigations of the Obama administration, focus at least initially in the next Congress will be on the Senate to lay a potential pathway for legislative compromise on energy and environmental policy.

“The Senate will set the energy agenda especially at the beginning,” said Paul Bledsoe, a senior adviser with the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former Senate Democratic aide.

“We are going to have a run at energy legislation,” Majority Leader Harry Reid said on CNN on Dec. 22.”

This builds on President Obama’s statement in a press conference on Dec. 22 that he plans to “immediately engage with Republicans” in an attempt to pass an energy bill in 2011.

The Politico article continues:

“Lawmakers in both parties have shown interest in establishing a new federal renewable power mandate or a broader one that includes not just sources like wind, solar and geothermal but also nuclear and cleaner uses of coal.

With mandatory carbon controls seemingly off the table, more emphasis may be placed on longtime bipartisan efforts to reduce other major air pollutants stemming from power plants. Oil-state lawmakers will continue to seek the right balance between government oversight and private enterprise in drilling off the nation’s coastline in the aftermath of this summer’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. And first will be an effort to curb greenhouse gas regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency.”

Of course, as recently noted, many critical pieces of a new federal energy agenda are unlikely to advance in the next Congress. Nevertheless, it’s promising to see potential for substantive bipartisan progress. Stay tuned.