Judge won’t block meeting that could exempt Gulf drilling from Endangered Species Act

A judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration can convene a meeting next week to seek an exemption from the Endangered Species Act on the basis of national security for expanded oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

District of Columbia District Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the Center for Biological Diversity’s motion to postpone the Interior Department’s upcoming meeting of the Endangered Species Committee. 

The committee is set to meet Tuesday to seek an exemption from endangered species laws — which make it illegal to harm or kill species on a protected list, without a viable alternative — for national security purposes as invoked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. 

According to a Department of Justice filing, Hegseth called for an exemption for “all Gulf of America oil and gas exploration and development activities” overseen by federal agencies in his request to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for the meeting. The request came as the world experiences oil shocks and soaring energy prices amid the U.S.-Iran war.

Composed of six high-ranking federal officials plus a representative for states involved, the committee has been called the “God Squad” by environmental groups that say its actions can essentially determine the fate of an endangered species. It has convened only three times in its nearly 50-year history and the national security provision has never been invoked. 

The Center for Biological Diversity sued earlier this month, saying Burgum did not meet requirements or the legal basis needed to convene the committee. In seeking a temporary restraining order, the center argued the government could cause irreparable harm through the actions it decides next week. Environmental groups are especially concerned about the Rice’s whale in the Gulf, where only about 50 remain.

Government attorneys argued in court that the environmental group was challenging an exemption decision that hasn’t been made and said the government’s reasoning for the exemption will be detailed next week.

The judge said the center did not meet a high standard necessary to issue the temporary restraining order. 

Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, called it disappointing that the court “didn’t immediately stop Hegseth’s reckless power grab.”

“We’ll be outside the Department of the Interior on Tuesday protesting this outrageous abuse by Trump’s extinction committee. We’ll certainly be back in court to save the Rice’s whale and all of the Gulf of Mexico’s wildlife from being driven to extinction by the oil industry,” he said.

The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Environmental groups say the administration is seeking an exemption to avoid the intensive process required for an Endangered Species Act exemption. They say such an exemption could set a dangerous precedent for future fossil fuel projects.

The Gulf has long been affected by the environmental harms that oil can bring. An oil spill in the Gulf earlier this month spread 373 miles (600 kilometers), contaminating at least six species and polluting seven protected natural reserves. BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 wreaked havoc on the Gulf, spilling 134 million gallons of oil and devastating life in the region. The administration approved BP’s new $5 billion ultra-deepwater drilling project in the Gulf just weeks ago.

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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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