Defenders Slams Unlawful God Squad Vote to Strip Endangered Species Act Protection from Wildlife in the Gulf

Defenders of Wildlife strongly opposes today’s vote by the Endangered Species Committee, or God Squad, to condemn species to extinction in the name of a fictitious “national security emergency.” Beyond the fact that the God Squad met none of the hearing or documentation prerequisites required by law to convene, it has no authority to exempt all ongoing and future oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico from complying with the Endangered Species Act. Today’s decision strips dozens of threatened and endangered species of essential Endangered Species Act’s protections.

“In a farcical piece of political theater consisting of high-level officials reading scripted remarks and engaging in zero deliberation, the Trump administration stripped America’s wildlife heritage in the Gulf of Mexico of essential protections. The Endangered Species Act has not slowed an iota of oil from being extracted from the Gulf,” said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife. “I cannot stress enough how unprecedented and unlawful this action is.”

Already imperiled by the effects of decades of poorly regulated fossil fuel extraction, from chronic oil spills and leaks to the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout, endangered and threatened wildlife in the Gulf have now had their Endangered Species Act protections ripped away. By granting this sweeping exemption, the God Squad has put dozens of imperiled species, including the critically endangered Rice’s whale and the beloved Florida manatee, directly in harm’s way in the name of reducing regulatory burdens on the fossil fuel industry. This is a dangerous precedent for other species standing in the crosshairs of extractive industry – like Cook Inlet belugas in Alaska, sea otters in California and Alaska and polar bears in the Arctic.

“Invoking national security cannot justify potentially pushing the Rice’s whale — or any of our nation’s irreplaceable wildlife species — into the abyss of extinction,” Bowman said. “If this administration were truly concerned about national security, it would focus on what will protect our quality of life and a secure future for all Americans. That includes healthy lands and waters that support people and the wildlife that we love and rely upon.  

This administration cannot recklessly play God with our shared American heritage at Secretary Hegseth’s arbitrary say-so. We will fight this injustice every step of the way.”

###