Trump officials exempt drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act, putting rare whales at risk

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration has exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act because lawsuits from environmentalists threaten to disrupt domestic energy supplies as the US wages war against Iran.

Critics said the move taken Tuesday by the government’s Endangered Species Committee could destroy a rare whale species and harm other marine life.

Nicknamed the “God Squad” by groups that say it could decide the fate of a species, the committee includes several Trump administration officials and is chaired by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

The committee met on Tuesday for the first time in more than three decades amid rising energy prices due to the global oil shock and the Iran war. The US pumps more oil than any other country, but that hasn’t insulated it from rising prices: The national average for a gallon of gasoline rose above $4 US on Tuesday for the first time since 2022.

“Disruption of Gulf oil production not only hurts us, it benefits our adversaries,” Hegseth told the committee. “We cannot allow our own rules to weaken our position and strengthen those who seek to harm us. When growth in the Gulf cools, we are prevented from producing the energy we need as a country and as a department.”

The rare Rhys’s whale is in danger

Environmental groups tried unsuccessfully to stop Tuesday’s meeting and promised to challenge the waiver. They say the exemption will hasten the extinction of the rare Rice’s whale, which is found exclusively in the Gulf of Mexico. Government biologists say only 50 animals remain.

“If Trump is successful here, he could be the first person in history to intentionally exterminate a species from the face of the earth. The situation with Rice’s whale is so dire,” said Patrick Parenteau, professor emeritus of law at Vermont Law School.

Parenteau rejected Hegseth’s claims of a security threat, as companies have continued to explore and extract oil in the Gulf despite legal challenges over the critically endangered whales.

During his final days in office, former Democratic President Joe Biden sought to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most US coastal waters, citing the climate crisis.

US President Donald Trump reversed that policy and made increasing fossil fuel production a central focus of his second term. Trump wants to open up new areas of the Gulf off the Florida coast to drilling and has proposed sweeping back environmental regulations disliked by the industry.

Hegseth informed Burgum on March 13 that an Endangered Species Act waiver for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf “is necessary for reasons of national security.”

Iran’s efforts to block shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s busiest oil route, underscore the national security imperative of strong domestic oil production, Hegseth told committee members Tuesday. He said pending litigation from environmental groups “threatens to halt” oil production in the Gulf.

Whales, turtles and sturgeon may be harmed

The Gulf waiver marks the first time that national security has been cited by the Endangered Species Committee to justify action. Conservation groups immediately condemned the action and said it was done illegally.

“The Endangered Species Act has not reduced oil extraction from the Gulf one bit,” said Andrew Bowman, president of Defenders of Wildlife.

“I cannot emphasize enough how unprecedented and unlawful this action is.”

A 2025 National Marine Fisheries Service analysis determined that the Gulf oil and gas program was likely to harm several species of whales, sea turtles, and Gulf sturgeon. They face potential damage from ship strikes, oil spills and other impacts.

Since 1973, the Endangered Species Act has made it illegal to harm or kill species on the protected list. The committee was formed in 1978 as a way to discount projects if an alternative did not provide equivalent economic benefits in an area or if it was in the best interests of the country.

Before this week, the panel had met only three times and issued only two waivers. The first was permitted in 1979 to build a dam on the Platte River in Wyoming, which is home to whooping cranes. Its last visit was in 1992, allowing entry into northern spotted owl habitat in Oregon. That exemption request was later withdrawn.

Its latest meeting follows a federal judge’s ruling on Monday that rejected efforts to weaken rules for endangered species during Trump’s first term.

streamlined project approval

Industry observers said the waiver could have significant implications for energy companies by streamlining approval of new projects and hampering the ability of opponents to derail drilling plans.

Eric Milito of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore developers, said, “Serial litigation from activist groups targeting a legitimate, well-regulated industry should not be allowed to indefinitely disrupt projects of clear national importance.”

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the country’s top oil fields, producing two million barrels per day. That’s about 15 percent of the crude oil pumped annually in the U.S. and a small portion of domestic natural gas production.

The Gulf has also been the site of environmental disasters such as the BP deep water horizon explosion In 2010, 11 workers died and 500 million liters of oil was spilled. Rice’s whale numbers have declined by 22 percent since the accident and may take decades to recover, scientists said.

The spill spread 600 kilometers into the Gulf off the Mexican coast earlier this month, killing at least six species and polluting seven protected nature reserves.

In mid-March the Trump administration approved BP’s new $5 billion US ultra-deepwater drilling project in the Gulf.