Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon spoke at a regional convention geared toward energy and mineral policy this week. He didn't mince words, calling some of the state Freedom Caucus’s efforts around the industry "dumb.”

Energy stakeholders from the West gathered online and in Greenwood Village, Colorado for an evening with the Common Sense Institute, a public policy think tank based in Colorado.

The group released new research looking at federal energy policy. The report shows that Pres. Trump’s push to mine and increase energy production will be a boost to the rare earth mineral industry. Several speakers echoed that Wyoming has a lot to gain under Trump with coal, rare earth minerals and other energy resources.

Gordon was a keynote speaker, and he talked about propping up coal and mining. But he said reducing climate warming emissions is still a goal for the state. He has publicly said climate change is real, which has gotten blowback from the Freedom Caucus, especially this year.

“It ended up with a really dumb bill, which was called, ‘Let's make carbon dioxide great again,’ in which they were calling for more and more carbon dioxide. Luckily, that didn't pass,” Gordon said. “But I mean, there's some of this stuff that's a little bit stupid.”

But Gordon also called the lengthy approval process for energy projects “stupid.” He honed in on NEPA, a federal mandate to review a proposed project’s environmental impacts. Gordon referenced TerraPower, a nuclear power plant project in southwest Wyoming.

“It has not one, not two, not three, not four or five or six. It's got seven individual NEPA analyses that have to be done,” Gordon said. “This is stupid.”

Gordon applauded Trump’s orders that intend to speed up approval. Most recently, a federal environmental review for a Utah uranium mine was shortened from one year to two weeks. Critics say this is dangerous, possibly overlooking radiation and water impacts.