The Trump administration just did something that has never been done in the 50-year history of the Endangered Species Act.
They convened a little-known panel called the “God Squad” (a group of cabinet officials with the power to override species protections) and used it to hand the entire Gulf of Mexico oil and gas industry a blanket exemption from the law.
Not one project. Not one species. The whole industry. At least 20 threatened and endangered species, gone from the books with a single vote.
The justification? “National security.” Except no drilling permits had been denied. The oil industry itself told a federal court recently that wildlife protections weren’t even blocking their operations. There is no emergency. They just wanted the protections gone.
Here’s what’s now at risk. The Rice’s whale lives only in the Gulf of Mexico. There are approximately 51 left on Earth. Scientists have already warned it could become the first human-caused whale extinction in recorded history. Sea turtles that conservation groups have spent decades protecting, corals, fish, and seabirds all now exposed to unchecked industrial drilling with no required wildlife review.
And here’s why this goes beyond the Gulf. If this stands, it’s a template. Any industry can now claim national security to erase species protections anywhere in the country.
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