NOAA Fisheries insisted last week that imperiled species in the Gulf of Mexico would still be protected by federal regulations despite the Trump administration’s sweeping Endangered Species Act exemption for offshore oil and gas production.
Nearly three weeks after the Trump administration granted a never-before-invoked exemption from ESA requirements on national security grounds, some environmentalists say they remain unsure about what specific protections are still in place for species like the Rice’s whale, of which only a few dozen individuals remain.
In aFederal Register notice published Friday, NOAA Fisheries addressed the effects of last month’s action by the Endangered Species Committee, a group of high-level officials granted powers to waive ESA mandates and allow development projects to proceed even when they may jeopardize protected species. Nicknamed the “God Squad,” the committee met last month for the first time in more than 30 years.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requested the exemption, saying that national security was threatened by environmental litigation that he maintained had already constrained oil and gas development in the Gulf. “I do not need to wait to see whether the ESA will be used to block all oil and gas development and production in the Gulf before acting to protect national security,” Hegseth wrote to the Interior Department.
