Critics say Tuesday’s move could doom Gulf populations of endangered Rice’s whales.
FILE – An oil tanker passes at sunrise while a man fishes in Port Aransas, Texas, Aug. 9, 2025. in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits against the industry threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.
S. wages war against Iran.by groups who say it can decide a species’ fate, the committee comprises several Trump administration officials and is chaired by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. It met Tuesday for the first time in more than three decades amid global oil shocks and soaring energy prices brought on by. The U.S. pumps more oil than any other nation, but that hasn’t insulated it from spiking prices: The national average for a gallon of gasoline “Disruptions to Gulf oil production doesn’t hurt just us, it benefits our adversaries,” Hegseth told the committee. “We cannot allow our own rules to weaken our standing and strengthen those who wish to harm us. When development in the Gulf is chilled, we are prevented from producing the energy we need as a country and as a department.”Tuesday’s meeting and pledged to challenge the exemption. They say the exemption would speed the extinction of the rare Rice’s whale, which is found exclusively in the Gulf of Mexico. Government biologists say only about 50 of the animals remain. “If Trump is successful here, he could be the first person in history to knowingly extirpate a species from the face of the earth. That’s how precarious the condition of the Rice’s whale is,” said Patrick Parenteau, emeritus professor of law at Vermont Law School. FILE – Doug Burgum, Secretary of Interior, delivers speech at the reception of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum at U.S. Ambassador’s Residence, March 13, 2026, in Tokyo. FILE – A supply vessel boat sits near an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. April 10, 2011. FILE – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, March 24, 2026, in Washington. Clumps of oil residue lie on the shore after fishing outings were suspended because of an oil spill that Mexican authorities said originated from an unidentified vessel and two natural oil seeps along the Gulf coast in Salinas, Mexico, Thursday, March 26, 2026. FILE – An oil tanker passes at sunrise while a man fishes in Port Aransas, Texas, Aug. 9, 2025. FILE – Doug Burgum, Secretary of Interior, delivers speech at the reception of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum at U.S. Ambassador’s Residence, March 13, 2026, in Tokyo. Republican President Donald Trump has made increased fossil fuel production a central focus of his second term. He wants toHegseth had notified Burgum on March 13 that an Endangered Species Act exemption for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf was “necessary for reasons of national security.”through the world’s busiest oil route, the Strait of Hormuz, underscored the national security imperative of a robust domestic oil production. He said the energy industry is under threat from pending litigation from environmental groups challenging government approvals for drilling. Industry observers said the Endangered Species Act exemption could have significant implications for energy companies by streamlining approvals of new projects and impeding opponents’ ability to derail drilling plans. “Serial litigation from activist groups targeting a lawful, well-regulated industry should not be allowed to indefinitely obstruct projects of clear national importance,” said Erik Milito with the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore developers. The Gulf of Mexico is one of the nation’s top oil regions, producing 2 million barrels a day. It accounts for almost 15% of crude pumped annually in the U.S., plus a small share of domestic natural gas production.The Trump administration in mid-March approved BP’s new $5 billion ultra-deepwater drilling project in the Gulf. A 2025 National Marine Fisheries Service analysis determined the Gulf oil and gas program was likely to harm several species of whales, sea turtles and Gulf sturgeon that face potential harm from ship strikes, oil spills and other impacts., which makes it illegal to harm or kill species on a protected list, if no alternative would provide the same economic benefits in a region or if it was in the nation’s best interest.If the giant sequoia is dying out, why are there tens of thousands of seedlings and saplings?AI’s arrival complicates Big Tech climate goals, and some worry it’s locking in more fossil fuelsBefore this week, the panel had convened just three times in its 53-year history and issued only two exemptions. The first was in 1979 to allow construction on a dam on the Platte River in Wyoming, home to the whooping crane. It last met in 1992, allowing logging in northern spotted owl habitats in Oregon. That exemption request was later withdrawn. Its latest meeting follows a federal judge’s ruling on Monday that struck down attempts during Trump’s first term to weaken rules for endangered species. The panel’s members include the secretaries of agriculture, interior and the Army, the chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisers, and the administrators of both the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They all voted in favor of Hegseth’s request for an exemption. ‘Character of our community is diminished.’ Borrego Springs group asks for short-term rental regulations‘We don’t have enough food’: Providers brace for thousands of San Diegans to lose SNAP benefitsSan Diego’s USS Boxer stops in Hawaii en route to transporting Camp Pendleton Marines to Middle EastIts schools are falling apart, and voters won’t pass a bond. Could a little-used tactic help this district?Santee fire that prompted evacuations at shopping center charred 5 acres
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