By Jarret Adams

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) told a packed audience Feb. 23 at conference held by The New Republic that he was working with a group of leading senators and the Obama administration on renewed push for a climate bill.

“We’re on a short track here in terms of piecing together legislation we intend to roll out,” Kerry told the conference. While he acknowledged that his optimism about the legislation was “contrary to conventional wisdom” and added that all of the approaches are on the table.

Sen. Kerry has been working with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) on legislation focused reducing CO2 emissions and encouraging more clean energy production.

According to the Washington Post’s “Post Carbon” blog, Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate’s top Democrat has asked Kerry to produce a bill as soon as possible.

As Reuters reported, the administration is supportive of this work…

Carol Browner, President Barack Obama’s top energy and climate adviser, told the same audience at the forum sponsored by the New Republic magazine “the work that is going on up on the Hill is moving at a nice speed.”

However, some reports including this one from the New York Times, questioned which method will be employed.

AREVA was cosponsor of the event along with NEI and the Clean Skies Foundation that focused on “What’s Next for Climate Policy.” (Pictured below are AREVA Inc. CEO Jacques Besnainou, Sen. Kerry and Peter Scoblic, Executive Editor of the New Republic.)