The Trump administration has summoned the Endangered Species Committee, known as the ‘God Squad’, to consider exemptions allowing oil and gas exploration and production in protected areas of the Gulf of Mexico. The meeting, the first in about three decades, is set for March 31 and has drawn criticism from environmental groups. Specific species or projects are not detailed.
The U.S. government under Donald Trump announced on Monday in the Federal Register the convening of the ‘God Squad’, a federal panel empowered to override protections for endangered species. The meeting, led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, is scheduled for March 31 and will be live-streamed. Participants include Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs. The committee will review exemptions under the Endangered Species Act for oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico, without specifying species or projects. This marks the first such meeting in 30 years. Trump emphasizes expanding crude oil and gas drilling, having reversed Joe Biden’s electric vehicle incentives. Recently, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management quietly approved a $5 billion deepwater Gulf drilling project. Friends of the Earth environmentalists called the move “cruel, senseless, unnecessary, contrary to the public interest”. Legal director Hallie Templeton stated: “Invoking the ‘God Squad’ to expand drilling in the Gulf of Mexico [...] will prove to be a grave mistake”.
