Roll Call, a Washington D.C. newspaper, looked at the style of U.S.Sen. Jeff Bingaman when it comes to running the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The committee, which was chaired by former New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, is in the forefront of all decisions about climate bills and the new energy bill.

Bingaman’s “consensus-style management and wonky nature continue to keep lobbyists guessing,” Roll Call writes.

Lobbyists (or “hired guns” in Roll Call’s article) say that Bingaman is more interested in the impacts of energy legislation on the environment and the consumer than was previously true on the committee.

The panel is described as one of the least partisan in the Senate, with Scott Segal, a partner at Bracewell & Giuliani, saying “The issues are more regional than partisan.”

However, one unnamed energy lobbyist didn’t like Bingaman as much as Domenici.

“Bingaman seems to be more focused on the deal than what needs to be done — he’ll say one thing but then [later] it will seem like he never said them,” an energy lobbyist said. “Domenici would make a concession and then try to work around the concession. Bingaman will make a concession and then walk away from it.”