Trump administration officials took the unprecedented step Tuesday, declaring that all oil and gas activity in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico is exempt from Endangered Species Act protections.
To do so, they convened a federal commission, dubbed “God’s Squad” because of its potential to drive the species to extinction, which had not met in more than 30 years.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the move was necessary to ensure continued energy supplies and avoid lawsuits from environmental groups. Hegseth said Tuesday that the Interior Department has notified the Pentagon that ongoing litigation “could disrupt oil and gas production in the Gulf.”
“If our ability to get oil from the Gulf is compromised, there are serious consequences,” Hegseth said. “We cannot allow our own rules to weaken our position and strengthen those who seek to harm us.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who also heads the National Energy Governance Council, convened the Endangered Species Committee on Tuesday to consider the Pentagon’s request to exempt oil and gas operations in the Gulf from endangered species protections. The rarely used commission was established in the 1970s as a refuge when major energy and other infrastructure projects might be canceled because they could wipe out endangered species.
But the committee has never considered an exemption as broad as the one declared Tuesday, which applies to all oil and gas production in the region President Donald Trump has renamed the U.S. Gulf. All six members of the committee voted to approve the waiver, saying they had no discretion to vote against it under the National Security Act.
Plans for the commission to convene this month have already prompted lawsuits from environmental groups and raised concerns about endangered species like the gray whale. There are an estimated 51 whales left, but the species lives only in the Gulf and is susceptible to noise from boat strikes and oil and gas operations.
A recent federal environmental analysis concluded that oil and gas operations in the region could wipe out the species unless oil and gas operators take additional precautions.
Official members of the committee include the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Army, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, the EPA Administrator, and the NOAA Administrator.
Burkum said Hegseth attended Tuesday’s meeting as a “guest.”
Tuesday’s meeting strikes down a new legal basis for invoking a never-before-applied national security exemption under the Endangered Species Act, and the government’s scant details have left legal experts confused as to what the government’s decision will mean.
Previous deliberations by the committee, including the most recent in the early 1990s, focused on specific projects and included detailed public hearings, formal administrative hearings, and government reports.
“It’s very difficult to know what to compare this to,” said Erika Krantz, a senior staff attorney in the Environmental and Energy Law Program at Harvard Law School. He said the exemption declared by the committee was permanent. “It’s not just what’s happening right now or the projects that are currently being considered. It’s eternal.”
Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, challenged last year’s environmental analysis by NOAA Fisheries, saying it did not adequately consider harm to endangered species.
“It’s very remarkable that the administration here has acted to basically avoid any litigation that may arise now or in the future,” Krantz added. “This wasn’t just about the requirements of the (Endangered Species Act), it was specifically targeting (non-governmental organizations) who are trying to make (the law) meaningful by forcing government agencies to comply with its requirements.”
Last week, a federal judge refused to halt a committee meeting after the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit. Interior announced the Endangered Species Commission meeting through the Federal Register on March 16, but did not say it was related to the national security exemption until it filed its response to the lawsuit last week.
Environmental groups announced Tuesday that they plan to amend their lawsuit to block the exemption from taking effect.
“I’m sure the CEOs are overjoyed with this vote, hoping to make even more money by sacrificing our country’s wildlife and watering down environmental protections,” said Brett Hartl, the group’s government relations director. “As we reverse this heartless and despicable act by Hegseth and the extermination committee thugs, it is important that people remember who did not speak out against their actions.”
Industry groups said Tuesday they support the administration’s decision.
“Offshore oil and gas activity in the American Gulf is already subject to one of the most comprehensive and robust environmental regulatory frameworks in the world,” Eric Milito, president of the National Marine Industries Association, said in a statement. “Today’s decision reflects that these strong protections are in place, and that a series of lawsuits by activist groups targeting a legitimate and well-regulated industry should not be allowed to indefinitely block projects of clear national importance.”
protesters outside inside
Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) speaks Tuesday in front of the Interior Department headquarters building in Washington. | Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp/POLITICO’s E&E News
More than 70 environmentalists gathered on the steps of the Interior Department on Tuesday, wearing cardboard whale costumes, inflatable frog costumes, turtle costumes and monarch butterfly capes to protest Tuesday’s meeting. They gathered with advocacy groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity, the Endangered Species Coalition, and wildlife conservation organizations.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), co-chair of the Congressional ESA Caucus, said he was “simply surprised” that the meeting was justified as a national security emergency. “What we really have here is a political emergency,” he told the audience.
Bayer said the Trump administration may have an incentive to expand Gulf projects to counter rising oil prices due to the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, but it remains impossible to know what else is going on behind closed doors.
He argued that there already exists a permitted bay area that is ESA compliant but has not been drilled, and further expansion would only take time and would likely postpone the end of the war.
“So they’re going to use God’s Forces for a lot of other things?” Bayer asked in an interview. “This is a very dangerous precedent.”
He added that Republican measures continue to target the ESA after Tuesday’s meeting, and granting exceptions could open the floodgates to workarounds that put more species at risk.
He said the committee also failed to follow proper procedures and provide proper notice of the meeting.
“The fact that no one is allowed in is also very scary,” he says. “These are not the kinds of decisions that should be made behind closed doors without public input.”
Susan Holmes, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition, expressed concern about the future of rice whales, sea turtles and manatees, which are among the most endangered Gulf species. Holmes said the Trump administration is framing extermination as “acceptable collateral damage” for short-term gain.
But the American Petroleum Institute argued that the industry has a “long track record” of considering wildlife protection in offshore projects.
“Over the long term, it is up to U.S. energy leaders to get the balance right while meeting growing energy demands through reasonable, science-based protections,” API spokeswoman Andrea Woods said in a statement.
Carlos Anchondo contributed to this report.
