Principal Parker Moore (Washington, DC) recently spoke with Bloomberg Law about the Endangered Species Committee’s (God Squad) decision to exempt oil and gas production in the Gulf from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Absent an act of Congress, only the God Squad has statutory authority to issue exemptions from the ESA’s jeopardy prohibition. B&D covered these developments in, “ Endangered Species Act ‘God Squad’ Exempts Offshore Oil and Gas Operations from ESA Consultation Requirements.”
In, “ Trump ‘God Squad’ Oil Exemption Wades Into Murky Legal Territory,” Parker said the decision could open the door for the Pentagon to invoke national security to exempt other activities —such as critical minerals mining and onshore oil and gas—from endangered species protections. Parker noted that “concerns others have raised for the potential of floodgates to open I don’t think are unreasonable.”
Parker also emphasized that the lack of any mention of judicial review suggests Congress considered the potential for the Pentagon’s national security determination and gave the God Squad no discretion to deny the exemption request. He explained that Congress may not have contemplated such review of national security-based exemptions under ESA Section 7(j), which Secretary of War Pete Hegseth cited in his request, and which the God Squad has never convened under, even though decisions under other sections of the ESA are reviewable.