The Trump administration’s move to exempt oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico from endangered species considerations could hand environmentalists a public engagement opportunity, although one they would prefer not to have.
The use of the so-called God Squad last month to grant a more than 600,000-square-mile exemption for the oil industry puts the spotlight on the kind of charismatic species — whales and sea turtles — that not only conservationists but the general public hold dear. In particular, it highlights the plight of the Rice’s whale, which has only a few dozen of its kind left.
“This action by the Trump administration may prove to be a galvanizing moment for a whole new generation of advocates and voters who support the Endangered Species Act and the wildlife and ecosystems it protects,” said Ben Greuel, national wildlife campaign manager at the Sierra Club.
Environmentalists emphasize that they would prefer that the Trump administration hadn’t acted with the God Squad. But the extraordinary nature of the meeting could focus public attention on the threats to species in the Gulf, where a large portion of the oil and gas produced by the U.S. comes from.
Everything about the exemption granted by the Endangered Species Committee was unusual. The committee — a panel of Cabinet members and other high-level officials led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum — has met less than a handful of times in the nearly 50-year history since its addition to the Endangered Species Act. Before gathering on March 31, it hadn’t met for decades.
When issuing a blanket order that said oil and gas activities would no longer be subject to routine endangered species considerations, the committee cited a never-before-invoked national security provision. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth himself attended, saying oil development in the Gulf of Mexico was so important that “we cannot allow our own rules to weaken our standing and strengthen those who wish to harm us.”
While citizens may not often have endangered species top of mind when they vote, the attention brought by the God Squad could have political implications, environmentalists argue.
“I think they know that it is inherently unpopular,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. He said he expects environmental groups will use the committee as an example to illustrate “the reality that this is an administration that really just can’t do enough for the fossil fuel industry.”
The God Squad’s efforts have caused a “surge” in engagement at the National Wildlife Federation, according to spokesperson Mike Saccone, who said it has “fired up the public.”
“The Endangered Species Committee’s decision has galvanized people from all walks of life, who both identify as conservationists and those who are just passionate about wildlife,” he said.
An analysis about the God Squad posted by the Center for American Progress had the highest engagement on the liberal think tank’s website last week, said Angelo Villagomez, the post’s author.
“This topic has clearly struck a chord with the public,” Villagomez said.
In response to questions about the environmental movement’s engagement with the God Squad’s actions, the Interior Department sent a statement from a White House spokesperson that the committee “has full authority to grant exemptions to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements” and that the Gulf exemption was needed “so that America’s energy streams would not be disrupted or held hostage.”
Whales and sea turtles
The sweeping gambit from the Trump administration has already prompted a battery of court filings in what is sure to play out for months to come. Environmentalists have already filed four lawsuits over the matter.
Though oil companies did not advocate for the exemption, American Petroleum Institute spokesperson Andrea Woods said in a statement that the industry has a “long track record of protecting wildlife while developing offshore energy responsibly.”
“Over the long term, American energy leadership depends on getting that balance right through reasonable, science-based protections while meeting growing energy demand,” Woods said.
As the lawsuits play out in court, some environmentalists see a chance to rally voters around the Endangered Species Act, which remains broadly popular with voters, according to polling.
Those questions can be existential: Will a species live or die?
While the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump refers to as the Gulf of America, contains habitat for more than two dozen endangered species, two of the most imperiled are the Rice’s whale and the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the smallest turtle of its kind in the world.
The number of Kemp’s ridley turtles reached a low in the 1980s and has since rebounded because of conservation efforts. But NOAA Fisheries has said that progress halted in the 2010s.
There are only about 50 of the Rice’s whales left in the Gulf, and they are believed to be among the most affected species by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil spill.
The focus on whales also draws attention to Trump’s past comments bashing offshore wind over whether it harms whales.
Trump and his deputies have repeatedly claimed wind turbines kill whales, an assertion researchers have dismissed as unfounded.
Pat Parenteau, an emeritus professor at the Vermont Law School, said it was “hypocrisy on steroids” to support whales when it concerns wind while opposing them “when it comes to promoting oil.”
A White House official said that the wind projects were halted over national security concerns.
“These same environmentalists have pushed for a transition to so-called ‘renewable’ energy sources like windmills, which indisputably kill wildlife like the national bird of the United States — the bald eagle,” the official said. “Are we supposed to believe that these environmentalists suddenly care about energy sources that kill wildlife? If so, they are the hypocrites.”
Despite the spikes in attention, Ken Bouley, the executive director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, said he can’t see the situation as “an opportunity,” saying the Trump administration’s actions have been “unprecedented” during his group’s 40 years of working on wildlife issues along the Gulf Coast.
“It strains the capacities of the entire environmental community, and that is likely by design. These actions threaten to push numerous species over the brink,” he said.
And the environmental lawyers challenging the national security exemption in court remain distressed about its implications.
“I think this is a really dangerous moment,” said Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans at Earthjustice, one of the groups that has sued the Trump administration over the national security exemption. Caputo noted that the lawmakers who passed the Endangered Species Act in the 1970s recognized that extinction “is forever.”
“I hope the extremity and unreasonableness of the decision the administration took … is going to get attention, but I don’t draw any relish from that,” he said. “Because we’re really at risk.”
