The Endangered Species Committee this week unilaterally eliminated key Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for marine life in the Gulf of Mexico – including the critically endangered Rice’s whale – to clear the way for offshore oil and gas drilling, a move that drew condemnation from environmental advocates.
The committee, also known within the environmental advocacy community as the “God Squad,” refers to a board of political appointees who can override protections granted by the ESA in favor of economic interests, environmental advocates contend. The committee took this action after a finding from US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that the exemption for oil and gas exploration was needed for reasons of “national security.”
The national security provision of the ESA has never been invoked.
The Gulf of Mexico is home to 20 threatened and endangered species, including sea turtles, sturgeon, manta rays, sharks, and whales, according to Oceana Vice President Beth Lowell:
“Today, the Trump administration exploited a never-before-used power to exempt oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act. The ruling puts endangered species on an unnecessary fast track to extinction. For more than 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has protected endangered and threatened wildlife by ensuring that the federal government reviews projects and provides measures to minimize the threat to species on the brink of extinction. Today’s action reverses this trend by putting profits over protections. It is not what the authors of this bedrock law intended.”
Attending the committee meeting were Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, Acting Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors Pierre Yared, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Neil Jacobs.
This committee has only been convened three times in the more than 40 years since its establishment — all under the regular procedures for an exemption. It has never been convened to consider a national security exemption, according to Oceana.
Ocean advocates held a rally opposing the meeting outside the Interior Department building, with Endangered Species Coalition Executive Director Susan Holmes saying:
“The Rice’s whale is one of the most endangered species in the world, with only 51 individuals, all in the Gulf. President Trump is seeking to play God with the Rice’s whale and other endangered species in the name of expanding oil and gas development. No administration, Republican or Democrat, has ever sought such a sweeping exemption from the Endangered Species Act. This closed-door effort to weaken protections for whales, sea turtles, and the Gulf ecosystem is a direct threat to wildlife already struggling to survive. Decisions about endangered species must be guided by science, not politics or corporate pressure.”
Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO Andrew Bowman said:
“Invoking national security cannot justify potentially pushing the Rice’s whale — or any of our nation’s irreplaceable wildlife species — into the abyss of extinction. If this administration were truly concerned about national security, it would focus on what will protect our quality of life and a secure future for all Americans. That includes healthy lands and waters that support people and the wildlife that we love and rely upon.
“This administration cannot recklessly play God with our shared American heritage at Secretary Hegseth’s arbitrary say-so. We will fight this injustice every step of the way.”
