By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
Environmental groups are joining an effort to block rules from President Donald Trump’s administration exempting energy companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from legal protections for endangered species.
Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth asked for an exemption to the Endangered Species Act, on the basis of national security, to drill for oil and gas in the Gulf. That means species such as Rice’s whale, Kemp’s ridley sea turtle and other endangered species lose protection.
The Endangered Species Committee, an administrative panel sometimes called the “God Squad” because of its sweeping power to overrule environmental protections, comprising top administrators in the Trump administration, approved the exemption.
Now, the Southern Environmental Law Center is representing environmental groups in petitioning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review the administration’s decision.
The groups include the National Wildlife Federation, National Parks Conservation Association, Florida Wildlife Federation, Louisiana Wildlife Federation and Texas Conservation Alliance.
“Our organization witnessed firsthand the devastation of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as we watched oil wash ashore on Florida beaches, saw fishing families lose their livelihoods overnight, and documented the toll on sea turtles, shorebirds, and marine life that took years to recover,” Sarah Gledhill, president and CEO of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said in a news release.
“The (Endangered Species Act) review process is one of the hard-won lessons of disasters like that, and it forces industry to plan for harm, minimize it, and answer for it,” she said.
The groups warn that noise, vessel strikes, and spills could further threaten endangered species if oil and gas drilling picks up.
“Exempting the entire oil and gas industry from ESA compliance, forever, is not a national security measure, it’s a giveaway. Florida’s coastal communities, our fisheries, and our wildlife deserve better. We will stand firmly in the way of anyone who tries to shortchange the Gulf,” Gledhill said.
The named respondents include Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and the remaining members of the Endangered Species Committee.
The appellate court may enjoin, suspend, or modify the agency’s decision.
Another suit
Two weeks ago, other environmental groups sued for an injunction. Represented by Earthjustice, an environmental law organization, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Turtle Island Restoration Network and Healthy Gulf filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
They argue the Trump administration is abusing the national security exemption under the Endangered Species Act, and that more than two dozen species now protected as either threatened or endangered are directly at risk. And they contend that Hegseth’s finding of a national security consideration is entirely arbitrary.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Banner photo: A Rice’s whale swimming at the surface of the ocean. (Credit: NOAA SEFSC, ESA/MMPA permit #21938).
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