This blog post highlights a recent op-ed published in USA Today that warns how federal policy decisions expanding offshore oil and gas drilling are accelerating the decline of the critically endangered Rice’s whale, undermining environmental protections and putting one of the rarest marine species at even greater risk of extinction.
Playing God in the Gulf and a rare whale’s right to exist
One of the world’s most critically endangered whales is being forced onto an accelerated path toward extinction by our government’s reckless and unlawful policy decisions.
May 1, 2026
With all the advances of modern science in the Twenty-First Century, you’d think that one of the largest mammals in the world would be easy to identify.
You would think.
And yet, we didn’t officially classify Rice’s whale as its own distinct species until five years ago. But now, just as we are starting to better understand this beautiful, unique species — one of the world’s most critically endangered whales — it is being forced onto an accelerated path toward extinction by our government’s reckless and unlawful policy decisions.
A unique species
There are approximately 51 Rice’s whales left on the planet. They are the only baleen whale that resides year-round in Gulf waters; in effect, they could be called “America’s whale.” They grow up to 42 feet long, are dark gray on top with a pale to pink belly and have a hooked dorsal fin about two-thirds of the way down their backs.
Increased extinction risk from oil and gas drilling
The Trump administration is seeking to aggressively expand oil and gas drilling off our coasts, including off Florida in the eastern Gulf, in the Rice’s whale’s core habitat. These activities will bring increased boat traffic, raising the risk of fatal vessel strikes, and the increased likelihood of oil spills. Vessel strikes and oil spills are the biggest threats to this whale.
The catastrophic 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf — the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history — killed 11 workers, caused billions of dollars of economic damage, poisoned 1,300 miles of coastline across five states and wiped out 17 to 22% of Rice’s whales. Despite billions more spent on cleanup efforts, vulnerable species and habitats continue to suffer long-term consequences.
Now the administration wants to expedite and expand drilling in the Gulf and around the country at the same time it’s proposing to slash funding for environmental safeguards. Its proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 for the federal agencies overseeing offshore drilling would cut environmental programs and enforcement by 33% and oil spill research by 37%.
Alarmingly, the administration just approved BP’s first new major ultra-deepwater oil drilling project since Deepwater Horizon. The Kaskida platform will target oil as deep as 6,200 feet, exceeding Deepwater Horizon’s 5,000-foot depth. Blowouts and oil spills are exponentially more likely at these extreme depths.
Playing God
Equally alarmingly, the Trump administration’s Endangered Species Committee (informally known as the “God Squad” because its decisions may determine life or death for protected species) recently cited “national security concerns” to justify a sweeping exemption from Endangered Species Act protections for federally authorized oil and gas activities in the Gulf. At the March 31 meeting of the God Squad, Defense Secretary Hegseth told the committee that Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in response to U.S. attacks illustrates the need to write a blank check to the oil and gas industry to ensure their development plans aren’t “chilled” by future public interest litigation seeking to enforce the Endangered Species Act.
It cannot be overstated just how rare and extreme this action is. Authorized by amendments to the Endangered Species Act nearly half a century ago, in 1978, the committee had met only three times prior to its March 31, 2026, meeting — and not since 1992. Additionally, Congress explicitly included significant procedural requirements to develop a detailed public record for the committee to consider. Congress established these safeguards for good reason, given the existential stakes. The committee brazenly ignored these requirements.
It’s difficult to take the administration’s “national security” argument seriously, given that the Endangered Species Act has never stopped oil and gas companies from drilling in the Gulf. Indeed, the day after the God Squad’s vote, the administration proudly announced that U.S. energy production reached record levels in 2025, with the highest annual offshore oil production on record.
From day one of its second term, the Trump administration has cited an alleged "national energy emergency" to justify bypassing environmental laws and regulations that apply to drilling and mining for fossil fuels. But that so-called "energy emergency" is belied by the administration's relentless and sustained attacks on renewable energy sources, most notably solar power and offshore wind, as well as its eagerness to weaken or outright kill energy efficiency standards.
Of course, Rice’s whales — along with sea turtles, manatees and countless other marine mammals, shorebirds, corals and fish put at risk by the sweeping exemption — don’t know anything about these policy choices advancing a pro-drilling agenda. They simply seek to survive and live their lives.
You would think that this administration’s officials — who are not shy about citing God’s word in justifying their actions, including the attacks on Iran that have caused global oil prices to spike — would think twice before playing God with innocent species’ very existence. But unfortunately, you would be wrong.
Dan Moss is a senior government relations representative at Defenders of Wildlife where he leads Defenders' federal advocacy to protect wildlife in a variety of diverse areas.
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