The God Squad

Who has the power to condemn an entire species?

In March, the Endangered Species Committee convened to discuss exempting oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico* from endangered species requirements. The result of their discussion (which lasted only 15 minutes) was to vote to allow it, overruling any and all federal safeguards in place to protect marine wildlife in the Gulf.

One such species of wildlife is Rice’s whale, of which there are estimated to be only 50 individuals left. The Committee’s action, in essence, condemned these whales to death.

Who is the God Squad?

The Endangered Species Committee was created in the 1970s as a response to the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Tellico Dam in Tennessee, because the dam would likely obliterate a species of tiny fish called snail darters. That decision dissatisfied a number of Congresspeople, who created the Committee in order to allow exemptions from federal wildlife protections. Because the Committee could literally hold the fate of a species in their hands, they became known as The God Squad.

The God Squad is made up of seven votes: the secretaries of the departments of Interior, Agriculture, and the Army, administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The final vote goes to a representative from the affected state or states, to be appointed by the president.

The application process to have an exemption considered by The God Squad is rigorous, and all deliberations must be open to the public. An exemption must also contain reasonable mitigations to protect any affected species. Since its inception, the Committee has only voted on applications 3 times. Before this year, the last vote was in the early 90s, when the Committee voted to allow timber sales that would threaten the northern spotted owl. But the owl was saved by the Clinton Administration, which put safeguards in place that greatly reduced timber sales.

The Northern Spotted Owl (National Wildlife Federation)

The Latest God Squad Vote

Given the Trump Administration’s relentless quest to consume our natural resources and gobble up our pristine public lands, it’s no wonder that they would utilize The God Squad in their destructive mission.

The Administration claims the exemption is a matter of national security. According to White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers, “As authorized under the ESA, the Committee unanimously voted to grant an exemption to Gulf of America oil and gas activities from the ESA so that America’s energy streams would not be disrupted or held hostage.” No doubt, they are using the war in Iran as a reason for why the U.S. needs to open up domestic oil production…and the conspiracy theorist in me would point out that using the war as an excuse to drill in our protected lands and waters would be a very conscious benefit to starting the war in the first place.

Note that there’s already oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico; it accounted for 15% of total U.S. crude oil production and 2% of total U.S. dry natural gas production, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

True to Trump Administration form, the latest God Squad vote lacked pretty much all the conditions necessary for a lawful exemption vote. The Committee met for 15 minutes, none of it was public, and no mitigation measures were put into effect to protect the whales. Defenders of Wildlife is just one of several conservation groups challenging the vote. Says Jane Davenport, senior attorney in the Biodiversity Law Center at Defenders of Wildlife, “Let me just be really clear. There’s zero of the conditions they would need to meet in order to tee up a lawful vote.”

What Does This Mean For The Whales?

To protect Rice’s whales, ships must follow safe-speed regulations and monitor the location of whales to avoid boat strikes, among other safeguards. Now, those regulations are gone. Without these measures in place, the Rice’s whales, the only whale endemic to the U.S., have little hope to avoid extinction.

Given the Trump Administration’s unquenchable thirst for our public lands, this won’t be the last time they deploy The God Squad. The “Unleashing American Energy” executive order states very clearly that stripping away protections in order to mine the nation’s “abundance of energy and natural resources” is of top priority. Under the guise of building “economic prosperity,” the administration intends remove every obstacle in order to reap profit from our wildlife resources and public lands.

However, the March decision isn’t a done deal, given the number of petitions that have been filed for review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. So continue to stay informed, call your representatives, and get in touch with the organizations fighting this fight—like Defenders of Wildlife—to see how you can get involved.

Note: The main resource for this post was the National Parks Traveler newsletter. I highly recommend checking them out and subscribing to support them!

*Sorry, I refuse to call it Gulf of America.

Nicole Maggi is the author of the National Park Mystery Series, beginning with A MURDER IN ZION, which was nominated for numerous awards, and following with LOST IN YELLOWSTONE. Both books garnered effusive praise from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. She also penned THE FORGETTING, an International Thriller Writers Thriller Award Finalist, a Junior Library Guild selection and a #1 Kindle Bestseller. When she’s not writing, she’s either driving her teenager to the mall or plotting her next escape to a National Park. Find her online at nicolemaggi.com and @nicolemaggiauthor on Instagram.