Alaska's environmental chief calls EPA partnership under Trump the best of his career

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Randy Bates said Tuesday that the state has never had a better relationship with the federal Environmental Protection Agency in his 25 years of government service.

"In the last year and a half, I have never seen a better relationship between a state and a federal agency," Bates said at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference. "It is hands down productive, collaborative, communicative, reasonable, rational, logical."

The praise comes as federal land management looms large over Alaska's future. The federal government controls roughly 60% of Alaska's land, giving Washington outsized influence over the state's resource development, environmental policy, and economic trajectory. A shift in presidential administrations can reshape Alaska's development prospects almost overnight.

Bates spoke during a panel with three EPA regional administrators who emphasized the Trump administration's "cooperative federalism" approach, which shifts more regulatory authority to states while streamlining federal permitting.

Regional administrators detail changes

EPA Region 10 Administrator Emma Pokon, who oversees Alaska, said the agency is narrowing its environmental reviews to avoid duplicating state expertise.

"We do not need NEPA documents to pre-decide the outcome of permitting actions when those permits have not been submitted yet," Pokon said. She noted that state agencies like Alaska's DEC have expertise that warrants respect and that Commissioner Bates is accountable to state residents in ways EPA's Seattle office cannot be.

Region 6 Administrator Scott Mason said repairing relationships with states was a mandate from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. His office worked with Texas to grant the state Class VI primacy for carbon sequestration permits, finalizing the authority by late summer.

The administrators said EPA is working to reduce backlogs in state implementation plans and streamline air permit reviews. Region 6 has approved 15 state implementation plans with 16 more queued for final approval.

Industry seeks regulatory certainty

Mason said the agency's approach centers on "protection that empowers rather than restricts" and "regulation that clarifies rather than complicates."

"The one thing that I always come away with that they tell me without hesitation every single time is that we want regulatory certainty," Mason said. "And I believe this EPA is leaning into that."

The administrators also discussed reforms underway for Waters of the United States rules, diesel exhaust regulations, and right-to-repair policies affecting farmers and ranchers.