Environmentalist and conservationist organizations are lambasting the Trump administration for considering circumventing the Endangered Species Act to clear a pathway for increased offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of America, a move they claim violates federal law.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum plans to convene the Endangered Species Committee later this month to consider exempting species in the Gulf, which was previously known as the Gulf of Mexico.
The committee, informally known as the “God Squad,” is scheduled to meet on March 31 and will be specifically weighing exemptions related to oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities in the region.
Environmentalists and conservationists are fearful that the meeting could result in the government significantly reducing protections for at-risk species, including sea turtles and Rice’s whales, to allow oil and gas firms to ramp up production in the Gulf.
“The Trump administration is attempting an illegal end-run around the Endangered Species Act to benefit the fossil fuel industry at the expense of Rice’s whales and other wildlife,” Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said Monday.
Hartl warned that the lifting of any protections could push these endangered species into extinction. The Center for Biological Diversity estimates there are only 51 Rice’s whales living in the Gulf.
Earthjustice warned the order would also put more fish, rays, and corals in the Gulf region at risk.
“The marine species in the Gulf are our natural heritage. There’s no imaginable justification to sacrifice them,” said Steve Mashuda, Earthjustice managing attorney for oceans.
Earthjustice said the law only allows exemptions if there is no way an activity would lead to the extinction of one or more species.
“None of those circumstances are present in the Gulf,” the non-profit environmental law firm said.
The Interior Department did not specify in its notice to the Federal Register which species it is considering exempting from the law.
The environmentalist and conservation groups have said that the exemption would be a handout to the oil and gas industry, which the Trump administration has not been shy about favoring over the last year.
The Trump administration has taken several actions to prioritize the expansion of onshore and offshore fossil fuel production, including offering more lease sales for explosion and drilling and lowering royalty rates.
The industry, however, hasn’t been champing at the bit.
Just last week, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held its second offshore lease sale in the Gulf, but it garnered the fewest bids since the government began holding regionwide auctions in 2017. The sale generated nearly $47 million for 25 blocks that cover roughly 141,000 acres in federal waters in the Gulf.
The “God squad” is made up of several high-level Cabinet officials, including the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, the Interior secretary, the Agriculture secretary, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administrator.
The committee was first created by Congress in 1978 and has not formally met for decades, as it is only permitted in narrow circumstances.
In its nearly 50-year history, the committee has voted to reduce endangered species protections twice, including granting an exemption related to whooping cranes to allow for the construction of a dam in Wyoming. Its second exemption, regarding the northern spotted owl, did not hold up and was withdrawn by the federal government.
The committee is legally required to make its meetings available to the public and plans to do so this month by livestreaming the meeting on YouTube.
The Center for Biological Diversity also criticized this decision, claiming it was limiting the public’s ability to provide input.
TO THE GOVERNMENT, ENDANGERED ANIMALS TRUMP PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THE CONSTITUTION
“Condemning whales to extinction behind the safety of a web live stream is pathetic, and we’ll be there at the Interior Department in person to protest this illegal action,” Hartl said.
The group has promised to take legal action if the committee moves forward with the proposed exemption.
