A US federal panel on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a move that critics say could destroy endangered species of whales and harm other marine life.
The Endangered Species Committee – which had not met for more than three decades – voted to approve the ESA exemption request at the request of the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits against the industry threatened to disrupt the country’s energy supply, while environmentalists fear drilling could kill protected animals including Rice’s whales, cranes and sea turtles.
There are only about 51 Rice’s whales left, and they and other wildlife are on the verge of extinction as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, which devastated the bay when it leaked 210m litres.
Dubbed “God’s team” by groups that say it can decide the fate of the species, the committee includes several Trump administration officials and is chaired by the interior secretary, Doug Burgum.
Burgum, Hegseth and five other panel members voted unanimously for the release.
Steve Mashuda, a lawyer for the non-profit environmental law organization Earthjustice, criticized the move. “The Trump administration is using its self-inflicted gas crisis to eliminate protections for endangered whales and other endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said.
“Secretary Hegseth and his divestment committee say this will ultimately reduce costs for poor Americans, but Gulf nations know what unregulated drilling will bring: devastating oil spills and environmental and coastal economic damage.
Donald Trump has made increasing fossil fuel production a central goal of his second term. He wants to open up new areas off the coast of Florida to drilling, and has proposed rolling back environmental regulations that the industry doesn’t like.
Hegseth informed Burgum on March 13 that the ESA release for oil and gas drilling in the bay was “necessary for reasons of national security”, according to a court report from the administration. The request came at a time of global oil shocks and rising energy prices brought on by the Iran conflict.
Hegseth told committee members on Tuesday that Iran’s efforts to block shipping in the world’s busiest oil passage, the Strait of Hormuz, underscored the national security importance of strong domestic oil production. He said the energy industry is at risk of facing lawsuits from environmental groups challenging the government’s approval for drilling.
“Oil production disruptions don’t hurt us, they benefit our opponents,” Hegseth said. “We will not allow our laws to weaken our position and empower those who wish to harm us.
The Gulf of Mexico is one of the country’s largest oil producers. It accounts for more than 10% of the crude oil pumped annually in the US, as well as a small portion of domestic natural gas production.
But the bay has also been the site of environmental disasters such as BP’s Deepwater Horizon blowout in 2010 that killed 11 workers and spilled millions of gallons of oil. A spill from the bay earlier this month spread 373 kilometers (600km), contaminating seven protected natural areas.
The Trump administration in mid-March approved BP’s new $5bn deepwater project in the Gulf.
Environmental groups unsuccessfully tried to block Tuesday’s meeting and have vowed to legally challenge any action by the committee. They say the release could cause the rare Rice’s whale to become extinct.
“If Trump is successful here, he may be the first person in history to deliberately exterminate another species on the planet. That’s how dangerous Rice’s whale situation is,” said Patrick Parenteau, a professor emeritus at the Vermont School of Law.
A 2025 assessment by the National Marine Fisheries Service found that the Gulf of Mexico’s oil and gas program could release many species of whales, sea turtles and sturgeon that face potential harm from ship strikes, oil spills and other adverse events.
The Committee on Endangered Species was created in 1978 as a way to exempt projects from the Endangered Species Act, which makes it a crime to harm or kill species on the protected list, if no other method can provide similar economic benefits to the area or if it is in the public interest.
Prior to this week, the team had met just three times in its 53-year history and conceded just two goals. The first was in 1979 to allow the construction of a dam on the Platte River in Wyoming, home of the whooping crane. Last incorporated in 1992, it allows logging in spotted owl habitats in northern Oregon. That release request was later withdrawn.
Its latest meeting follows a federal judge’s ruling on Monday that struck down tests during Trump’s first term to weaken rules for endangered species.
Members of the delegation include the secretaries of agriculture, interior and military; chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; and the second directorate is the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They all voted in favor of Hegseth’s request for release.
The Associated Press contributed report
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