DNR says some Alaska permits clear in under a week; rules under review

Some Alaska permits now clear in less than a week, Acting Natural Resources Commissioner John Crowther told resource industry executives in Anchorage on Monday.

"We have some of our cycle times literally down to less than a week," Crowther said at a Resource Development Council breakfast forum. "We have some of them down to, you know, 32 days, and 30 of that is a public notice period."

Crowther appeared alongside Environmental Conservation Commissioner Randy Bates and the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The three described two levers reshaping state permitting: a memorandum of understanding with the federal Permitting Council, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy's Administrative Order 360.

Alaska signed that MOU in August 2025, the first statewide agreement between the federal Permitting Council and any state. It lets the state recommend projects for the Federal Permitting Dashboard, which tracks timelines for energy, mining, transportation, broadband and manufacturing projects under the FAST-41 program. The agreement is intended to remain in effect for at least five years after signing. Alaska News has previously covered how the federal permitting overhaul carries added weight here, where roughly 60 percent of land is federal.

Crowther said the agreement changed what the state can ask federal reviewers. "Why hasn't this particular person reviewed this? What's the hangup here? We have a lot of ability to get in and participate now," he said. Bates said the coordination needs to last beyond the current federal administration. "Now they've reempowered this FAST-41 group, and we just need to make it permanent," he said, adding that it should "withstand the swing of the next administration's pendulum."

The Fish and Game commissioner said the biggest permitting constraint sits on the federal side. State agencies often cannot tell what they are permitting until the federal environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act is finished and a preferred alternative is identified, he said. He offered an example: it is hard to issue a Title 16 permit for a stream crossing before the location of that crossing is known.

Administrative Order 360 requires executive branch agencies to cut regulatory requirements 15% by the end of 2026 and 25% by the end of 2027. Bates said it is "an opportunity for us to make regulatory changes outside the venue of statute in the legislature." He also said DEC's job is to perform permitting in a manner that is both expedient and protective of human health and the environment, and that agency regulations exist to implement statutes.

Separately, and in an example Bates said would not come out of the administrative order, he described a change already in use at DEC. "You just simply have to toggle online that you need this coverage. You're good to go. It's an overnight permit. It's called permit by rule," Bates said.

Bates and the Fish and Game commissioner urged industry to tell the agencies which regulations should change. Bates said he and Deputy Commissioner Kieneman will review the submissions. No public comment deadline was announced at the forum.