“God Squad” Seeks to Override Protections for Vulnerable Species

The Department of the Interior recently convened the Endangered Species Committee, aka the “God Squad,” for the first time in more than 30 years. During its meeting, the committee unanimously voted in favor of exempting all oil and gas activities in the Gulf from Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections under the guise of “national security”—a legally fraught justification that has never before been invoked and is not based in reality. This decision could doom imperiled species, such as the Rice’s whale, to extinction. Please contact your members of Congress, as well as key decision makers within the Trump administration, to express your opposition to this decision and tell them that condemning endangered species to extinction is not an option.