“A US government panel on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act (ESA)”

“The Endangered Species Committee – which had not convened in more than three decades – voted to approve the request for the ESA exemption at the request of the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth”

“Only about 51 Rice’s whales remain, and they and other wildlife are largely on the brink of extinction because of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill, which devastated the gulf when it leaked about 210m gallons”

“The Endangered Species Committee was established in 1978 as a way to exempt projects from the Endangered Species Act”

“The Gulf of Mexico is one of the nation’s top oil-producing regions. It accounts for more than 10% of crude pumped annually in the US, plus a small share of domestic natural gas production”

“A spill in the gulf earlier this month spread 373 miles (600km), contaminating seven protected natural reserves”

“The Trump administration in mid-March approved BP’s new $5bn ultra-deepwater drilling project in the gulf”

“A 2025 National Marine Fisheries Service analysis determined the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas program was likely to harm several species of whales, sea turtles and gulf sturgeon that face potential harm from ship strikes, oil spills and other adverse events”

“Before this week, the panel had convened just three times in its 53-year history and issued only two exemptions. The first was in 1979 to allow construction on a dam on the Platte River in Wyoming, home to the whooping crane. It last met in 1992, allowing logging in northern spotted owl habitats in Oregon. That exemption request was later withdrawn”

“The panel’s members include the secretaries of agriculture, interior and the army; the chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisers; and the administrators of both the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They all voted in favor of Hegseth’s request for an exemption”