Published April 16, 2026 04:19AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
After a Trump administration\u2013appointed panel rolled back endangered species protections near ten Gulf Coast national park sites, critics have sued<\/a> the federal government,\u00a0accusing it of playing God with threatened wildlife.<\/p>\n On March 31, the Endangered Species Committee (ESC), a seven-member panel comprised of political appointees, voted to allow oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico to bypass regulatory requirements. Dubbed the \u201cGod Squad\u201d for its power to decide whether a species survives or goes extinct, the ESC can override the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it deems economic or national security interests take priority over conservation.<\/p>\n The environmental groups behind the suit say the oil and gas operations will jeopardize several species, including the Rice whale<\/a>, one of the rarest whale species in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a false choice to have to choose between drilling and endangered species,\u201d Catherine Wannamaker, an attorney involved in the case, told Outside<\/em>. \u201cThere is no need for this exemption, period.\u201d<\/p>\n On April 15, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) sued the Trump administration<\/a> in a federal court, arguing that the ESC skipped mandatory public hearings and scientific reviews to give the oil industry a free pass in the Gulf. Other groups involved in the lawsuit include the National Wildlife Federation and the National Parks Conservation Association.<\/p>\n \u201cOil spills don\u2019t respect offshore boundaries,\u201d Wannamaker, SELC lead case attorney, said. \u201cIf you have risky exploratory drilling, the results can end up anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n While the bypass doesn\u2019t permit companies to drill on land managed by the National Park Service (NPS), it does allow oil and gas operations to proceed near them without any risk-mitigating factors. The groups behind the lawsuit\u00a0say the decision could threaten wildlife near multiple national park sites and protected areas along the Gulf Coast, including the Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, DeSoto National Memorial, and the coastlines of the Gulf Islands<\/a> and Padre Island National Seashores.<\/p>\n The Gulf of Mexico is home to a number of endangered species<\/a>, including sea turtles and coral, sperm whales, giant manta rays, and the critically endangered Rice\u2019s whale, one of the rarest whales in the world. Fewer than 100 of these whales are alive today<\/a>, and they only live in these waters.<\/p>\n Congress established the ESC in 1978, and the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, currently chairs it. Other members include those from the Army, the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n Members convene and vote to allow exemptions to the ESA in rare cases. The March 31 vote marks just the third time the committee has ever granted such an exemption: In 1979, it approved a dam on Wyoming\u2019s Platte River, and in 1992, it approved timber sales by the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon.<\/p>\n In the past, the group\u2019s decisions involved a lengthy, heavily scrutinized process. In 2026, however, the group published a public notice in the Federal Register only two weeks before the meeting. The lawsuit alleges that the March 31 meeting\u2014which lasted just 15 minutes\u2014didn\u2019t comply with federal regulations.<\/p>\n It\u2019s part of a growing trend of shortened public comment periods involving public lands.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a very strict process outlined in the statute of how you do it,\u201d Wannamaker said. \u201cThere are documents that are supposed to be provided, and public notice, and a chance for the public to weigh in. None of that was done. That is not how this process is supposed to work.\u201d<\/p>\nWhy Conservation Groups Say the Move is Illegal<\/h2>\n
What Is the God Squad, and Can They Override the Endangered Species Act?<\/h2>\n