Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the Center for Biological Diversity’s motion to postpone a planned meeting of the Interior Department’s Endangered Species Committee, clearing the way for the Trump administration to pursue an exemption from the Endangered Species Act for expanded Gulf of Mexico oil and gas drilling.
The meeting is set for Tuesday, when the committee is expected to seek a national-security exemption from the law’s protections, which generally make it illegal to harm or kill species on a protected list without a viable alternative. Contreras ruled Friday that the center did not meet the high bar needed for a temporary restraining order, according to an Associated Press account of the decision.
The committee’s national-security request traces to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who invoked national security as the basis for the exemption effort as Interior prepares for the meeting. A Department of Justice filing, as described by AP, said Hegseth called for an exemption for “all Gulf of America oil and gas exploration and development activities” overseen by federal agencies in his request to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
The committee is made up of six high-ranking federal officials plus a representative for states involved, and environmental groups have described it as a “God Squad” because its actions can effectively determine the fate of an endangered species. AP reported that the committee has convened only three times in nearly 50 years and that the national-security provision has never previously been invoked.
The Center for Biological Diversity sued earlier this month, arguing that Burgum did not meet legal requirements and a legal basis needed to convene the committee. In seeking a temporary restraining order, the center argued that the government could cause irreparable harm through what it decides next week, with environmental groups focused on the Rice’s whale in the Gulf, where they said only about 50 remain.
In court, government attorneys argued the center was challenging an exemption decision that had not yet been made, and that the government’s reasoning for any exemption would be detailed next week. After the judge denied the request, Brett Hartl, the environmental group’s government affairs director, called the outcome disappointing and said the center would protest outside the Department of the Interior on Tuesday.
Hartl said his group would also return to court to seek to “save the Rice’s whale and all of the Gulf of Mexico’s wildlife from being driven to extinction by the oil industry,” according to AP. The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the report said.
Environmental groups said the administration is seeking an exemption specifically to avoid the intensive process required for an Endangered Species Act exemption, and they argued that using the national-security provision could set a dangerous precedent for future fossil fuel projects. The Gulf has already faced major oil-related environmental damage, including a spill earlier this month that AP said spread 373 miles (600 kilometers), contaminating at least six species and polluting seven protected natural reserves.
AP also cited the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 as another example of the Gulf’s environmental harm from oil, saying it involved 134 million gallons of oil and devastated life in the region. The report added that the administration approved BP’s new $5 billion ultra-deepwater drilling project in the Gulf just weeks before the lawsuit was filed.