Secretary Burgum Will Convene A Committee Of Trump Administration And State Officials To Consider An Exemption For Offshore Oil Drilling Activity That Would Kill Off The Last Of Rice’s Whale

WASHINGTON, D.C. — March 17, 2026 — The United States Department of the Interior published a notice that said the Endangered Species Committee, colloquially referred to as the ‘God Squad’, will meet on March 31 in Washington, D.C. to consider an “exemption under the Endangered Species Act with respect to oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities” in the Gulf of Mexico that would drive the Rice’s whale to extinction.

“The oil industry rakes in billions and executives pay themselves tens of millions annually, yet instead of rebudgeting a fraction of those resources for environmentally-conscious operations, they would doom the Gulf Rice’s whale to extinction,” said Jewel Tomasula, PhD, national policy director at the Endangered Species Coalition. “These whales are beautiful, and their recovery is also essential for restoring a healthy ocean ecosystem. The solutions to keep Gulf Rice’s whales alive are straightforward- slow ship speeds in where whales live, use quieter seismic survey technology, and don’t spill oil. Sadly, the oil industry would rather go to their buddy, Secretary Burgum, for total exemption from the Endangered Species Act.”

Background

Great whales are keystone animals that support entire marine ecosystems by regulating food webs, cycling nutrients, and maintaining ocean health. The Gulf Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) is one of the rarest great whales in the world, found only in the northern Gulf of Mexico (sometimes referred to as the Gulf of America). Dr. Dale W. Rice first documented them in 1965, and genetic analysis in 2021 confirmed the whales are a distinct species. With fewer than 50 individuals estimated to remain, the species lives year-round along the Gulf’s continental slope, an area heavily trafficked by ships and oil operations. The 2025 Biological and Conference Opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) found that ongoing oil and gas activity, combined with vessel strikes, puts Gulf Rice’s whales at imminent risk of extinction. To conserve the species under the Endangered Species Act, the oil industry would be required to implement measures including vessel speed limits, improved whale detection, and monitoring to reduce the risk of lethal collisions. Scientists warn that without full compliance and stronger protections, this unique species could disappear forever.

The God Squad, officially called the Endangered Species Committee, was created by Congress in 1978 as a rare mechanism under the Endangered Species Act that can allow exemptions from the law if no reasonable alternatives exist. The Secretary of the Interior can convene the “God Squad” only for a specific project and only if NMFS, after a mandatory environmental analysis, determines the project would jeopardize survival of a protected species. The Secretary of the Interior serves as the chair of the God Squad, which is made up of six other Cabinet-level officials and representatives from affected states. The God Squad has convened only a handful of times in its history, and the last meeting was in 1991. In January 2025, Trump ordered the regular convening of the God Squad in the widely-criticized energy emergency declaration (Executive Order 14156).