The EPA's No. 2 told Alaska's resource industry the door is open — for now

The Environmental Protection Agency's second-in-command flew to Anchorage this week with a message the resource industry wanted to hear: Washington is clearing the way for Alaska to drill, mine, and build — and the people in the room know the opening may not last.

Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi, on his first trip to Alaska, laid out a sweeping rollback of federal environmental rules to the Resource Development Council, the state's main resource-industry group. The agency is moving to hand Alaska more authority to run environmental programs itself, ease compliance requirements on oil and gas operators, and speed up permitting across the board.

The centerpiece is the biggest and most contested. Fotouhi touted the EPA's move to rescind the 2009 "endangerment finding" — the official determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health, and the legal foundation beneath federal climate rules for cars and trucks. He called scrapping it the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history, worth $1.3 trillion.

In the room, the reception was warm. Rep. Nick Begich welcomed Fotouhi by calling the EPA "a partner in responsible development." And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, appearing by video, named the stakes bluntly: "The window isn't open forever," she said, urging industries to finish favorable rulemakings, lock in permits, and fend off the inevitable lawsuits to get projects into construction before the political pendulum swings back.

Not everyone shares the optimism, and the people who don't weren't there. The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that gutting climate and oil-and-gas rules raises health and climate risks, especially in the Arctic. And the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has documented that climate change is already hitting Alaska Native health, food and water security, and traditional ways of life. Neither group had a seat at Wednesday's luncheon.