The Biden administration is asking a federal judge to wait until next spring before tossing out its analysis of how offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is affecting a critically endangered whale.
On Monday, NOAA Fisheries submitted a request to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, asking for expedited reconsideration of its deadline for scrapping the agency’s 2020 biological opinion of the Rice’s whale and other marine life.
The agency said it would not be able to complete a new analysis before the court-ordered Dec. 20 deadline and asked the judge in the case to wait until May 21, 2025, to vacate the analysis.
Then, the agency said, it would have enough time to complete its new biological opinion, which is required for offshore oil and gas drilling to proceed.
