The Endangered Species Committee has voted to exempt oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities from the Endangered Species Act, meaning that oil and gas development would not need to consider endangered species impacts in the Gulf of Mexico.
This decision will irreparably impact all endangered and threatened species found in the Gulf. The Rice’s whale, with 51 individuals remaining, already faces the real threat of extinction – there is no way this species can survive with oil and gas companies exempt from federally mandated species protections. Sea turtles, dolphins, whales, and numerous coral and fish species are under the threat of more oil spills, seismic exploration, and habitat destruction from unnecessary drilling.
America is less dependent on oil and natural gas than ever, as renewables grow every year while oil and gas decline as part of the domestic energy mix. And the U.S. remains the largest producer of oil and gas and the Gulf the largest offshore producer in the country. These facts counteract the Committee’s ruling that oil and gas drilling is somehow being limited by endangered species protections.