Federal and state policies have historically privileged fossil fuel development in the western US. Presently, these abundant conventional energy sources remain important economic contributors to western state and federal coffers but rising energy demand, calls for energy independence, and climate change concerns bring conventional energy into conflict with next generation renewable energy. In the open policy terrain afforded by federalism, western states are leading the way through this

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... rence, or intervening time, when politics simultaneously promote conventional and renewable energy policies. Our central research goal is to chronicle and explain this energy policy intercurrence through the conceptual lenses of resource abundance, path dependence, and federalism. The state of western US energy policy will remain in flux as the intercurrence of two energy policy paradigms plays out through the first half of the 21st century and western states remain at the policy nexus.