The rare Rice’s whale spends its entire life in the Gulf of Mexico, where scientists say the species is confined to a small stretch of water and remains vulnerable to a range of human-caused pressures. On Tuesday, the Endangered Species Committee granted a seldom-used request for an exemption from protections in a case tied to national security arguments from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the Trump administration sought to expand oil and gas drilling. Conservation groups and researchers said the decision could increase threats to Rice’s whales and other imperiled Gulf species.
Rice’s whales are recognized as a distinct species in 2021 and are described as the only whale species that lives year-round in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists said fewer than 100 animals survive there and possibly fewer than 50, and they are typically found in the northeastern part of the Gulf in waters 100 to 400 meters deep. Researchers also said the animals’ foraging habits can leave them exposed: they dive to the gulf floor during the day for fatty fish, then rest close to the surface at night.
Jeremy Kiszka, a biological sciences professor at Florida International University, said Rice’s whales “quite [are] living on the edge” because they depend on a specialized diet and inhabit a place that is not easy for them to survive. Kiszka said the whales undertake strenuous dives for silver-rag driftfish, and that this food source could be affected by more drilling and other changes in the gulf. He also said the whales are vulnerable to vessel strikes at night.
Scientists said oil and gas activity could add additional strain through noise and climate impacts. Kiszka said noise could disrupt the whales’ foraging behavior, while increased global warming—linked to burning fossil fuels including oil and gas—could change where prey fish live. He also pointed to pollution, saying a significant portion of an already small Rice’s whale population was believed to have been killed by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. “What we see today is just a species … that is unlucky in many ways: small home, specialized diet and living in a place that is not easy in the first place,” Kiszka said.
Letise LaFeir, chief of conservation and stewardship at the New England Aquarium, said many climate change impacts are “baked in,” meaning they will persist even if fossil fuels were eliminated today. She said, however, the Trump administration’s drilling proposal “is just compounding the immediate risks locally and the longer-term risks.” LaFeir also said the ocean’s connectivity means changes in one area can have implications across the waters where species migrate and interact.
While a government filing specifically mentioned Rice’s whales, scientists said other threatened and endangered animals could face additional risks from oil spills and other dangers. LaFeir said hundreds of sea turtles—including endangered Kemp’s Ridley and loggerheads—are rescued and rehabilitated each year before they are released into the Atlantic Ocean and swim for nesting grounds in the Gulf.
Michael Jasny, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s marine mammal protection project, said the consequences could extend well beyond one species. “It’s … sea turtles, it’s manatees, it’s whooping cranes, it’s various seabirds, it’s Rice’s whales, it’s sperm whales, it is endangered corals,” he said. Jasny added that it is “every endangered or threatened species in the Gulf of Mexico.”
The exemption mechanism at the center of the decision is sometimes referred to as the “God Squad.” It was established in 1978 to allow projects to be exempted from Endangered Species Act protections if a cost-benefit analysis concluded it was the only way to achieve net economic benefits in the national or regional interest. The committee is seven members, led by the secretary of the Interior, with five other federal officials, while affected states get one shared vote, and five votes are required for an exemption.
Before Tuesday, the committee had issued exemptions only twice, according to the report. One was for construction of a dam on a segment of the Platte River considered critical habitat for whooping cranes, but a negotiated settlement produced significant protections that led to overall ecosystem improvements. The second was for logging in northern spotted owl habitat, but the request was withdrawn after environmental groups sued, arguing the committee’s decision was political and violated legal procedures.
Jasny said he fears the Trump administration wants to remove “rigorous scrutiny” of future exemptions, and “turn this … into a thing that could be invoked at any time, almost for any purpose.” He said, “If it can be done for drilling in the Gulf, you know no species is safe,” adding: “If you can declare an emergency to just kill sea turtles and manatees and whales in the Gulf, you know no species is safe.”