Gas cost an average of $1.90 a gallon when President Obama took office four years ago, but it is selling for about $3.75 a gallon today. The president says gas prices have risen because the economy has improved; gas prices fell greatly before he was inaugurated as the economy spiraled into recession.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney says the president has been hostile to American sources of energy by blocking the development of the Keystone XL pipeline that would move oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, imposing heavy new regulations on energy production and being slow to increase energy production from resources on federal property.

President Obama has implemented new fuel economy standards that will increase the distance American automobiles can travel on a gallon of fuel, hoping better technology will allow drivers to go farther with less energy. Gov. Romney hopes to open up more areas for energy exploration, bringing more fuel to the market.

Some combination of both strategies may offer the best hope for drivers and homeowners attempting to avoid high energy costs, but both will also take years to have a meaningful impact at the pump. Meanwhile, environmentalists continue to sound alarms about global warming, an issue that hasn’t gotten much attention during this campaign but that reminds us all there may be more harmful consequences from the energy we consume than the cost of buying it.

Balancing our economy’s need for energy with our environment’s need for protection is a task that will fall to our next president, and both candidates have advanced very different ideas for how they will meet that challenge.

Click the links below to read the opposing viewpoints

Obama offers sustainable energy policy

Romney will expand access to energy