Overview
- Judge Rudolph Contreras, ruling Friday, declined to halt the Interior Department’s plan to convene the Endangered Species Committee next week.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked the committee to grant a blanket waiver from the Endangered Species Act for all federal oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The Center for Biological Diversity sued to stop the session, saying the government skipped required steps and warning the move could endanger the Rice’s whale, which scientists estimate at roughly 50 animals.
- Justice Department lawyers say the national security claim makes the usual Endangered Species Act procedures inapplicable, and they plan to spell out the administration’s rationale at the meeting with a public livestream.
- The committee, nicknamed the “God Squad,” has met only a few times since the 1970s and has never ruled on a national security bid, while legal experts doubt any waiver would yield quick new drilling because offshore projects take years.