CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Energy and public land issues dominated a Wyoming Public Television debate Tuesday between two Democrats seeking Wyoming's only seat in the U.S. House.

John Henley, a Casper attorney, and Ted Ladd, a Wilson businessman, had a civil exchange of views and did little questioning or criticizing of one another. In fact, they agreed on many issues.

Henley said he would focus on establishing an energy policy that would reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil.

Answered Ladd: "We need to put Wyoming first -- Wyoming needs to be front and center in any energy policy." He said shifting the focus of energy research at the University of Wyoming from exploration to extraction could help the state.

"I tell you," Henley countered, "if we ... have a good energy policy, Wyoming will do just fine. Over 60 percent of our oil comes from foreign sources. That's just too much."

Both agreed that if the nation does not reduce its dependence on overseas oil now, a rush to develop oil during a crisis could devastate Wyoming's environment.

Henley, however, opted not to just criticize the oil industry. "We just can't shut them out, we just can't call them names," he said. "I hate it when people say 'big oil' and they just leave it at that."

But Ladd said he is frustrated by how some energy companies do business. "I worry that there are too many companies that don't have a tie to Wyoming ... that are not respecting the heritage of Wyoming and aren't respecting the future of Wyoming."

Henley suggested developing technology for burning coal in power plants more cleanly. "These clean-coal facilities will bring cutting edge jobs here we'll have engineers, we'll have high technology," he said.

Ladd said Wyoming should help lead the nation in using hydrogen as an energy research. "We can start to become leaders in fuel cell research. We can assure that we are generations ahead," he said.

He said multiple use of public land is important for conservation and countering the interests of minerals companies. "We are threatening hunters, we are threatening reacreationists, we are threatening access to public lands in general."

Henley thinks making sure that national parks like Yellowstone and Grand Teton get enough funding is essential to Wyoming's tourism. "We have wonderful national parks, but unfortunately the federal government has not done enough to ensure that the infrastructure in those parks is up to date," he said.

On the war on terrorism, Ladd called for working more with the United Nations and ensuring that it is not just a "debating society."

Henley said a long-term approach is needed to tackle terrorists.

"We need to adhere to our principles of justice and we need to take away from the terrorists any argument they can use that the United States is not ... fair."

A third Democratic candidate, Al Hamburg, of Torrington, did not take part in the debate.

AP-WS-08-03-04 2319EDT