President George W. Bush (Rep.)

Bush's energy policy is focused on increasing the supply of energy available to American consumers. He supports greater energy production and exploration in the Western hemisphere, including in ANWR. Bush has rejected the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, arguing that it exempts much of the world and would harm the U.S. economy. He favors “common-sense approaches to improving the environment,” and says the threat of global warming should be addressed through approaches that do not inhibit economic growth. Bush opposes linking trade agreements with environmental issue, but he has called for tax incentives totaling $4.1 billion through 2009 to spur the use of clean, renewable energy, and energy-efficient technologies, such as hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles, residential solar heating systems, renewable energy produced from landfill gas, wind, or biomass, and efficient combined heat and power systems.

Senator John Kerry (Dem.)

Kerry is focused primarily on reducing U.S. energy demand by investing in renewable energies and efficient technologies. A central plank of Kerry's campaign is to achieve “energy independence” within 10 years, claiming that the United States will be safer and freer when new energy sources are developed right in the United States itself. This would reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil and thus U.S. entanglements in the region, which would have a direct impact on national security policy and the “war on terror.” He also aims to have 20% of U.S. energy needs fulfilled by renewable sources by 2020. Kerry opposes drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and supports “alternatives” to the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.