Environmentalists from around the country teamed up this week to stop the White House from invoking a committee known as the 鈥淕od squad鈥� from lifting environmental protections to clear the way for expanded drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, the groups say the committee, made up of top administration officials, held a rushed meeting without proper notice.
鈥淭he Committee鈥檚 reckless decision threatens some of America鈥檚 most at-risk wildlife,鈥� Bart Melton, wildlife program director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. 鈥淚n a 15-minute meeting without appropriate public input, the administration exempted oil and gas drilling and related activities in the Gulf from Endangered Species Act compliance, risking extinction for the Kemp鈥檚 Ridley sea turtles, Rice鈥檚 whales and other threatened and endangered species.鈥�
READ MORE: Environmental groups sue over decision to strip protections from imperiled Gulf species
The legal action follows an earlier suit filed just days after a rare decision by the committee to lift protections. In that case, four different groups argued the decision was based 鈥渆ntirely on an arbitrary 鈥楴ational Security Finding鈥欌�� issued by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a member of the committee, in mid March. His finding claimed that ongoing or future litigation over drilling threatens national security.
Since its creation in 1978, the committee has met only three times. It earned the name God Squad because it had the power to waive protections under the Endangered Species Act to let wildlife go extinct, Pat Parenteau, an emeritus Vermont Law School professor .
The seven-member committee voted unanimously, invoking an authority intended to be used only as a last resort in 鈥渦nusual cases where the public benefit from an action is determined to outweigh the harm to the species,鈥� according to prepared by the Congressional Research Service. One of the Act鈥檚 exemptions allows rules to be lifted if the Secretary of Defense finds they threaten national security, .
At the March meeting, Hegseth said the war in Iran, where a major channel for the export of oil has been shut down, highlighted 鈥測et again why robust domestic oil production is a national security imperative.鈥�
The U.S. receives about 2.5% of its oil through the Straits of Hormuz. Drilling in the Gulf provides the U.S. with about 14%. In January, government forecasters said oil production in the Gulf .
Drilling in the Gulf has been widely opposed across Florida, where impacts of the Deepwater Horizon's 2010 oil persist.
鈥淥ur organization witnessed firsthand the devastation of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as we watched oil wash ashore on Florida beaches, saw fishing families lose their livelihoods overnight, and documented the toll on sea turtles, shorebirds, and marine life that took years to recover,鈥� Sarah Gledhill, president of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said in a statement. 鈥淓xempting the entire oil and gas industry from ESA compliance, forever, is not a national security measure, it鈥檚 a giveaway.鈥�
