ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A top official in the U.S. Interior Department on Monday told Alaska business leaders and members of the Congressional Western Caucus about the agency's plans to cut regulations and permitting timelines to support projects in areas such as mining, oil and gas, timber and tourism.

Karen Budd-Falen, associate deputy secretary for Interior, said that the agency under both administrations of President Donald Trump has already made tremendous progress streamlining environmental reviews so projects can be built more quickly.

That includes reducing the time to complete a document under the National Environmental Policy Act by three years, to now just 1.5 years. The length of Environmental Impact Statements has also been sharply narrowed to 150 pages, from 600 pages, she said.

Interior is also working on changing rules related to the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, she said.

"At the Department of the Interior, we are charged now with narrowing the scope of the regulations to completely fit within what Congress intended back" in the 1960s and 1970s "when a lot of these environmental regulations were passed. And that's what we're doing," Budd-Falen said.

She spoke to an audience of Republican lawmakers from the Western Caucus who traveled in Alaska in recent days to better understand the state's challenges, including the high cost of construction in remote, roadless areas where harsh winters and geography add unexpected challenges.

Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, the caucus's executive vice chair, helped serve as tour guide for the group. He moderated Monday's breakfast event, which was hosted by the Alaska Chamber at the request of the Western Caucus Foundation, an educational nonprofit aligned with the caucus.

Rep. Celeste Maloy, a Utah Republican and the caucus chair, told the audience that the trip was designed to give lawmakers a better understanding of Alaska's challenges.

The itinerary included a visit to the Kenai Peninsula, where lawmakers saw oil and gas fields, held a forum on recreational fishing co-hosted by the Kenai River Sportfishing Association — and went fishing themselves.

Additional tours included a trip to the Don Young Port of Alaska, the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and optional visits to the West Susitna mining district or the Donlin gold prospect in Southwest Alaska.

The gathering is part of a parade of lawmakers and federal officials that have visited the state this summer, giving Outside policymakers a chance to learn about Alaska and providing a platform to lawmakers like Begich who are running for reelection.

Seeing the state's unique challenges helps legislators build common ground and better support the state in ways that strengthen the U.S., Maloy told the audience.

"When you say decisions are being made in Washington, D.C., by people who don't understand Alaska and the scale and the scope and the needs, we say the same thing in Utah," she said.

"When Alaska is producing energy and minerals, it's good for Alaska," she said. "It's also good for the United States of America."

Maloy said the congressional members on the trip included Republican U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse of Washington, Jeff Hurd of Colorado, Pete Stauber of Minnesota, Darin LaHood of Illinois, Brian Babin of Texas, Nicole Malliotakis of New York and Ron Estes of Kansas.

A panel of Alaskans representing the forestry, mining, oil and gas, tourism and seafood industries also weighed in, along with business leaders from the audience.

Some speakers stressed the need for durable changes to regulations so developers aren't forced to change their plans every time a new administration gets voted in, each with different priorities.

Budd-Falen, with the Interior Department, encouraged audience members to contribute their views during comment periods to help build an administrative record that can support "staying power."

"Public comment matters," she said. "Not the postcards that whatever environmental group sends. We always get a million postcards. That counts as one comment."

"When you're writing comments, don't just take the form comment that somebody sends you," she said. "Writing is your story."

" 'This matters to my gold mine because, this matters to my pipeline because, '" she suggested. "Because that's the way that we're gonna shape good policy."

Begich told the audience that the current Congress has used the Congressional Review Act in bills to remove whiplash in policy changes between administrations.

The act gives Congress a path to block rules issued by federal agencies. It prevents agency rules or land-use plans from being "reissued in substantially the same form."

One such bill last year removed Biden-era environmental protections for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, where several oil and gas companies are looking to drill.

"We got three of those done for the state of Alaska, and they, I believe, will be transformational in terms of opening up new opportunities for resource development," Begich said.

Budd-Falen, who worked in key Interior positions during both Trump administrations, is a former private attorney who worked for ranching interests. She has been the subject of complaints about potential conflicts of interest, including by shaping policy in ways that could benefit ranches owned by her and her husband.

She said one change the agency is working on involves critical habitat designations under the Endangered Species Act. Those require considering economic impacts, national security and other relevant impacts, she said.

The agency is working to define "relevant impacts" to include categories that are important to local communities, such as livestock grazing or clearing timber that might benefit the environment by reducing downed timber that's killed by bugs, she said.

She said that "if the economic, national security and other relevant impacts" are more positive than designating critical habitat, than areas can be excluded from becoming critical habitat as long as a species won't go extinct, she said.

"I think that's gonna be a game changer," she said.

She's also excited about a new order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that she asserted will reduce project-killing delays under the National Historic Preservation Act.

"Now, there is no question that it is important to protect historical art objects or objects that are important to Native communities, absolutely understand that," she said. "But the way the act has been implemented is, instead of looking at what was important and then considering ways to protect it, people that were opposed to the action would just drag it out."

"We need the resources in Alaska," she said. "We need to get through the process to get to the resources."

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