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April 2026
Trump's God's squad chose oil drilling over protecting whales
God's Squad
the God's Board is a panel of six high-ranking officials from the Endangered Species Committee that has the ability to decide exemptions in the Endangered Species Act.
It earned the name because the committee has the power to play God.
Secretary of Defence request
Last week, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth requested an exemption to the Act requirements across all gas and oil exploration for the reasons of national security.
He stated that the threat stems from environmental group lawsuits that aim to protect the endangered species in the Gulf.
The groups in recent years sued, aiming to reduce the boat traffic speeds in the area that can strike and kill rice whales and restrict seismic air gun activity that can interfere with whale navigation and communication.
When the development in the Gulf is chilled, we are prevented from producing the energy we need as a country, threatening the national energy security.
Due to the ongoing conflict with Iran, Trump has urged that the U.S. needs to produce more oil to stabilize the global situation.
Oil spills a threat
Oil spills also pose a threat to the species. A federal study found that the 2011 Deepwater Horizon oil spill killed approximately 17% of the rice whale population, though it occurred outside their habitat.
Exemption granted to all oil and gas drilling companies
God Squad voted to quash long-standing Endangered Species Act regulations in the Gulf of Mexico exempting all oil and gas drilling.
The exemptions to the Endangered Species Act are extremely rare.
This is the fourth time in the history of the committee that it has voted, and the first time it has voted for an exemption on national security grounds.
Last vote in 1992
The last vote was in 1992 when the SWAT decided to proceed with a small number of old-growth forest timber sales in Oregon that could have hurt the threatened northern spotted owl.
After the environmental governments suing the squad, the exemptions were withdrawn.
Endangers Rice Whale
The critically endangered rice whale, a species that only exists in the Gulf and has just 50 whales left in existence, is threatened due to this hunting.
Trump criticised off shore wind farms
Trump has complained about the environmental harms to whales posed by offshore wind farms, saying wind turbines are driving them crazy and leading to whale death up and down the Atlantic coast, though there are no studies linking the death of whales and the wind farms.
CNN
