‘God Squad’ Grants Endangered Species Act Exemption for Gulf Oil Drilling

A little-known committee filled with Trump administration cabinet officials voted unanimously on Tuesday to grant an exemption of Endangered Species Act requirements in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas interests.The vote came after little discussion during a 15 minute meeting Tuesday of the Endangered Species Committee — sometimes referred to as the “God Squad” by environmental groups, who say the panel can decide on a species’ fate. It was the first meeting of the committee in 35 years.A never before used section of the Endangered Species Act requires the committee to grant an exemption if the defense secretary makes a national security finding. Approximately 15 percent of American crude oil comes from the gulf. A smaller portion of America’s natural gas production also comes from the gulf.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made such a finding, concluding that continuing all oil and gas production in the gulf was a matter of “urgent national security.” Mr. Hegseth told the committee that ongoing Endangered Species Act litigation threatens to halt oil and gas production.“It is essential to exempt all gulf oil and gas activities from the Endangered Species Act requirements,” Mr. Hegseth said. He added that the lawsuits waste government resources and make it impossible for energy companies to plan and invest in new projects.“When development in the gulf is chilled we are prevented from producing the energy we need as a country and as a department,” Mr. Hegseth said. He noted that the dramatic slowing of ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has highlighted the importance of American energy independence.Interior Secretary Doug Burgum chaired the meeting. “There have been those that seek to slow or halt energy production in the United States with the weaponization of regulations,” Mr. Burgum said. “Those efforts to stop production here don’t stop the consumption of energy, they just displace it.” Environmental groups say there is no emergency requiring the first such exemption in the law’s 53-year history. They claim it will likely drive the extremely endangered Rice’s whale to extinction. There are only estimated to be 50 remaining Rice’s whales. Conservation efforts involving dozens of other threatened and endangered species including sea turtles, whooping cranes, and manatees are under threat, according to researchers.The Center for Biological Diversity filed an unsuccessful lawsuit to try to block Tuesday’s meeting from taking place. It said it would amend its lawsuit now that the committee has followed through with the action.“This amoral action by Pete Hegseth and Trump’s cronies is as horrific as it is illegal,” the group’s government affairs director, Brett Hartl, said in a release. “Americans overwhelmingly oppose sacrificing endangered whales and other marine life so the fossil fuel industry can get richer.”The group noted that no company from the oil and gas industry or any federal agency had requested the waiver.“In a farcical piece of political theater consisting of high-level officials reading scripted remarks and engaging in zero deliberation, the Trump administration stripped America’s wildlife heritage in the Gulf of Mexico of essential protections. The Endangered Species Act has not slowed an iota of oil from being extracted from the Gulf,” the president of Defenders of Wildlife, Andrew Bowman, said in a statement. “I cannot stress enough how unprecedented and unlawful this action is.”Energy companies, however, say environmental lawsuits have been an ongoing issue for the industry. “Serial litigation from activist groups targeting a lawful, well-regulated industry should not be allowed to indefinitely obstruct projects of clear national importance,” the president of the National Ocean Industries Association, Erik Milito, told the Associated Press.

‘God Squad’ Grants Endangered Species Act Exemption for Gulf Oil Drilling

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