It wasn't a vacation but last week's trip to Washington was a little out of the ordinary for Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.

Battle made his first trip to the White House last Thursday, meeting with Trump administration officials on an array of issues as part of a group of elected officials from Alabama and Louisiana invited to the nation's capital.

The meetings focused on priorities for Trump but also included discussion on local issues. For Battle, that meant the Spring Pygmy sunfish that is threatened to throw the brakes on the construction of the $1.6 billion Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA facility.

The sunfish - a rare inch-long fish found only in a Limestone County spring near the plant site - came up during a meeting with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.

The Center for Biological Diversity has announced intent to file a lawsuit against Mazda Toyota and the city of Huntsville if work on the site is not halted until preservation of the sunfish habitat can be secured. Zinke was copied on the notice of intent on the lawsuit.

The CBD also filed a lawsuit in June against Zinke and others regarding the sunfish habitat.

"We asked him about the sunfish and he said he had been sued by a lot of people and those are some of the people who have sued him," Battle said. "The sunfish was on his radar. We just wanted to make sure it was on his radar."

Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Jackson County in northeast Alabama also came up during a meeting with Mark Menezes, under secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy.

"It was kind of interesting, they knew the project," Battle said. "The end result was they believe in nuclear, they just have to make sure it's doable. They didn't say there was no strong commitment for Bellefonte or against Bellefonte, more that there were questions about it they still had to get answered."

Nuclear Development LLC, which is in the process of purchasing the mothballed nuclear outside Scottsboro, has applied for $5 billion in loans from the Department of Energy.

Other speakers included Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the Department of Justice, Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway about the opioid crisis, assistant Education Secretary Frank Brogan and deputy assistant Secretary of Transportation Finch Fulton.

Battle said a theme that emerged from the speakers was an eagerness to work with both Republicans and Democrats.

The event included a tour of the White House and meetings across the street at the Executive Office Building.

"It's the first time as mayor I've been able to sit there and listen to what an administration is doing and what their functions were and be able to ask questions and have input," Battle said. "No matter what you think, there has to be a lot of credibility to do that.

"It was enlightening for me because we got first-hand knowledge about what people are working on on a daily basis in the executive branch of the government."

The meeting sessions typically allowed for 15 or 20 minutes for a speaker, then about 20 minutes for questions from the audience, Battle said.

"You came out feeling like you were at least heard and able to talk with your federal government," he said.