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On March 31, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum will convene a rare meeting of the Endangered Species Committee. Sometimes referred to as the “God Squad,” the panel could effectively roll back existing environmental protections by exempting companies from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), paving the way for oil and gas projects throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
Environmental organizations warn that such a move could threaten the region’s wildlife, including a local species of baleen whale that is nearly extinct already.
The Trump administration is technically required to hold a public hearing on the issue, but it’s claiming that the event is “open to the public” because the meeting will be streamed on YouTube.
“God Squad”
The “God Squad” was established by Congress in 1978 in response to a Tennessee dam project that was being impacted by a small freshwater fish. Its permanent members are the leaders of six federal agencies, which means that the group will consist of Trump officials committed to his regulation agenda.
This includes Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll, Acting Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Pierre Yared, and Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin. The only scientist on the panel will be National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) head Neil Jacobs, who made headlines in 2020 when he was found to have violated NOAA’s code of ethics by supporting Trump’s erroneous claim that Hurricane Dorian would make landfall in Alabama.
Meetings of the “God Squad” are rarely invoked, and the last time members granted an exemption was 1992, when President George H.W. Bush moved forward with extended timber sales that threatened the endangered Northern Spotted Owl. That decision was eventually overturned after it was legally challenged.
This time around, the move would primarily threaten Rice’s whales, which were found to be a distinct species in 2021, and are the only whales that live in the Gulf year-round. The whales were severely impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, as scientists estimate that roughly 48 percent of the whales’ habitat was contaminated with oil. Based on 2018 data, it’s estimated that there are 50 Rice’s whales left.
In 2022, 100 scientists sent then-President Joe Biden a letter warning that the whales could end up representing the first human-caused extinction of a great whale species in recorded history if protections weren’t heightened.
“Gulf of Mexico whales can recover,” it read. “They continue to produce calves, and our experience with other baleen whales shows that populations can rebound as conditions improve. But Gulf of Mexico whales are on the edge of extinction, and measures are urgently needed to reduce mortality and serious injury as well as to alleviate human stressors.”
Last year, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a biological opinion concluding that oil ships were threatening the existence of the Rice’s whale and also impacting other endangered animals, like sperm whales, Gulf sturgeons, and sea turtles. In response to the findings, the agency established speed requirements aimed at limiting the number of whales that are hit by the boats.
On March 18, the Center for Biological Diversity filed an emergency lawsuit attempting to block the Trump administration from potentially overhauling such regulations.
“Burgum’s extinction committee is immoral, illegal and unnecessary,” said the group’s executive director Kierán Suckling in a statement. “There’s no emergency, no legal basis to convene the committee, and no legal way to approve the extinction of Rice’s whales. This sham is nothing more than Burgum posturing for Trump and saving the fossil fuel industry a few dollars by allowing its boats to drive faster and more recklessly.”
As the lawsuit points out, the criteria for a “God Squad” meeting is extremely specific and it hasn’t been met by the Trump administration. The group is only supposed to convene within 90 days of a biological opinion by the US Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service concluding that a federal action threatens an endangered species. It also has to establish that there is no “reasonable and prudent alternative” to the government taking action.
“There’s a lot of unknowns here but we can read the tea leaves based on what has happened in the past,” Friends of the Earth legal director Hallie Templeton told Truthout. “The worst-case scenario, which I don’t want to see and I don’t think is legal, is that they could try to vote to grant an exemption.”
“Big oil already kills and injures tens and thousands of endangered species,” she added. “It’s going to be a catastrophe for these animals and it could spell extinction.”
“This threat to convene the ‘God Squad’ is just the latest in a long, shameful line of malicious actions from this administration with only one purpose: to funnel more money to Trump’s fossil fuel polluter pals,” Food & Water Watch’s Director of Media and Public Relations Seth Gladstone told Truthout. “We should know by now that Trump doesn’t care about endangered species, or clean air and water, or the livable future of this planet. He cares only about himself and his billionaire friends. We and other well-meaning groups will continue doing all we can to fight Trump’s selfish, stupid agenda.”
National Security Justification
While it’s unclear whether the Center for Biological Diversity’s lawsuit will prohibit the Trump administration from moving forward with its plans, the legal action has provided more insight into why the “God Squad” was convened.
According to a Justice Department court filing connected to the case, it was the Pentagon that requested the exemptions. The filing reveals that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a “national-security determination,” seemingly using the current U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran as a justification for the action.
“On March 13, 2026, the Secretary of War notified the Secretary of the Interior that the Secretary of War found it necessary for reasons of national security to exempt from the [Endangered Species Act]’s requirements all Gulf of America oil and gas exploration and development activities,” reads the filing.
While the war, and its connected energy concerns, provide a ready-made excuse for attacking the environmental protections, the move is just one aspect of an oil and gas deregulation push that predates intervention in Iran.
Earlier this year, the Interior Department announced that it was eradicating existing restrictions on the oil and gas industry, by acting on President Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” Executive Order.
“For too long, Washington red tape has strangled American energy producers and held back small businesses,” said Interior Secretary Burgum at the time. “President Trump is delivering on his promise to put American workers first, cut burdensome regulations and unleash our vast energy potential.”
The “God Squad” meeting was announced a few days after the Trump administration officially approved BP’s $5 billion Kaskida project, in a move that environmental groups say could lead to another massive oil spill.
Endangered Species Act in the Crosshairs
The meeting also comes amid a widening GOP war on the ESA.
Last year, the White House proposed four new rules aimed at the legislation. If adopted, the new criteria would make it harder to add new species to the Endangered Species list and easier to remove protected species. The moves would also make it harder to protect critical habitats and would loosen limitations on logging and drilling that threaten endangered species.
In Congress, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, has reintroduced the Endangered Species Amendments Act. According to the Sierra Club, the bill would “amend the ESA beyond recognition.”
Earlier this year, the House Natural Resources Committee voted to advance Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-Arizona) “Enhancing Safety for Animals” bill, which would remove ESA protections for Mexican gray wolves. It’s not the only pending legislation that threatens to impact the existence of wolf species. The “Pet and Livestock Protection Act,” which was introduced by Representatives Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) and Tom Tiffany (R-Wisconsin), would take ESA protections away from northwestern and Great Plains gray wolves.
According to Boebert, the wolves’ ESA protections are maintained as a result of “leftists [who] want to cower to radical environmentalists.”
“Can you put a price on 51 whales?” asked Templeton, who repeatedly stressed the secret nature of the Trump administration’s moves. “This could be final nail in the coffin for an entire species.”
“Everyone deserves to know what the federal government is up to and nobody knows in this instance,” said Templeton.
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