West Australian Premier Roger Cook is lobbying his federal Labor counterparts to kill off a renewed attempt to create an Environment Protection Agency,  as mining executives say they were blindsided by the move.

After it was revealed that Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, with the imprimatur of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, was exploring the possibility of a compromise on the EPA with the miners, Mr Cook spoke directly to several key federal colleagues on Thursday, imploring them to scrap the reforms.