Trump Administration Calls on “God Squad” to Weaken Endangered Species Act Protections

The Trump administration today announced its intent to convene the Endangered Species Committee - colloquially known as the "God Squad"- on March 21, 2026, to consider an exemption under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for oil and gas-related activities in the Gulf of Mexico. Already imperiled by decades of poorly regulated fossil fuel extraction and its consequences, including the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, protected species of sea turtles, corals, sharks and rays, fish and large whales will be put at further risk of extinction if the administration follows through with this unlawful and ill-advised process.

"The Trump administration is once again bending over backwards to benefit Big Oil at the expense of our shared American wildlife heritage," said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife. "This reckless behavior risks extinction of the Rice's whale and places many other imperiled species in the Gulf directly in harm's way."

The endangered Rice's whale, whose numbers teeter perilously at only around 50 surviving animals, is especially at risk. America's only endemic whale, the species lost more than 20% of its population and experienced heavy contamination across nearly 50% of its Gulf habitat because of Deepwater Horizon. In a May 2025 biological opinion analyzing the effects of oil and gas program activities in the Gulf over the next 50 years on ESA-listed species, NOAA Fisheries found that the operation of oil and gas vessels in the Gulf is likely to jeopardize the Rice's whale continued existence. The agency concluded, however, that jeopardy could be avoided through development and implementation of a peer-reviewed vessel strike avoidance technology plan, a conclusion known as a "reasonable and prudent alternative" to jeopardy. The agency reached a no jeopardy conclusion for ten other listed species.

"The Trump administration is running roughshod over both Congress and the federal courts," said Bowman. "Fortunately, Congress provided for judicial review of any Committee action to serve as a check on exactly this type of unlawful and unscrupulous behavior."

Congress amended the ESA in 1978 to add the God Squad provisions, establishing a deliberative process for an applicant to seek an exemption from the statute's prohibitions against causing likely jeopardy in the extraordinarily rare situation where an action cannot proceed without leading to a species' extinction. The God Squad has voted only three times in the nearly 50 years since the congressional amendment.

The exemption process can only be initiated if a biological opinion finds likely jeopardy without providing a reasonable and prudent alternative. That is not the case in the May 2025 biological opinion, which includes an alternative that avoids likely jeopardy.

There are additional, significant procedures established by both the law and implementing regulations for the exemption process to protect the public interest, including an application process, prompt public notice that such an application has been received, and a formal public hearing in front of an independent administrative law judge where the public can submit their own materials to be considered by the Committee. Only after that hearing process is complete does the Secretary of the Interior prepare a detailed report for the Committee's consideration. The administration has not followed a single one of these procedures.

What is more, in a case brought by the State of Louisiana and Big Oil stakeholders, a district judge in the Western District of Louisiana has already held the biological opinion unlawful and directed NOAA Fisheries to produce a new, revised opinion by August 24, 2026. Conservation groups have a separate lawsuit challenging the biological opinion's legal adequacy but the court has not yet ruled in that case.

In a Day One executive order issued on January 20, 2025, President Trump declared a fictitious "national energy emergency" prioritizing fossil fuel production and mining. Notably, it did not include renewable energy sources. The executive order directed the secretary of the Interior to convene the Committee at least quarterly to review and consider "any lawful applications" for exemptions as well as "obstacles to domestic energy infrastructure" allegedly deriving from implementing the ESA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

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