Committee Chooses Gulf Coast Oil Drilling Over Wildlife Protection, Threatening Park Species

WASHINGTON – The Endangered Species Committee met for the first time since the 1990s today and granted an unprecedented exemption, which will jeopardize the future of threatened and endangered species management in the Gulf.

The congressionally mandated committee, created to be used under extraordinary circumstances, was granted the authority to make rare exemptions to Endangered Species Act protections. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum convened today’s meeting, which included the Secretaries of Defense, Agriculture, EPA, and others.

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) condemned today’s action as reckless and pointed to threats that it poses for wildlife in the Gulf Coast and park-adjacent wildlife habitat across the country. NPCA urges the Trump administration to reject and reverse today’s action.

Statement by Bart Melton, Wildlife Program Director for the National Parks Conservation Association:

“Despite science on the best approaches for protecting threatened and endangered species in the Gulf from the worst impacts of oil and gas development, today the Administration threw caution to the wind and lifted protections for some of America’s most at-risk species. In a 30-minute meeting without any public engagement, the administration chose near-term financial gain over America’s conservation heritage.

Today’s haphazard decision could lead to the extinction of species from Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles to Rice’s whales. These species and others that depend on national park habitat in the Gulf are apparently now on their own for survival. It’s hard not to wonder what park species the administration will choose to sacrifice next without asking the public for their opinion.“

Statement from Melissa Abdo, PhD, Sun Coast Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association:

“More than seven million people visited Gulf Islands National Seashore last year—not to wade through contaminated water, stumble upon dead marine life, or watch industrial pollution and black tar clumps creep onto the coasts they love. Visitors don’t flock to the Florida Keys to see dying fish, and they certainly don’t travel to Florida’s coastal parks to watch gas flares light up the night sky.

“The threats to our coastal national parks and marine sanctuaries—and to the Everglades and the drinking water millions of Floridians depend on—are not hypothetical. They are real, accelerating, and will only intensify under this reckless decision. We’ve already seen what happens when disaster strikes. The Deepwater Horizon explosion, the worst oil spill in U.S. history, caused irreparable harm to the Gulf, cost taxpayers over $15 billion, and left scars the region is still struggling to recover from.

“Worse still, this decision places even our most extraordinary and imperiled wildlife in the crosshairs. The Gulf is the only home on Earth for the enigmatic and critically endangered Rice’s whale—the only whale species endemic to the United States. A key scientific breakthrough came in 2019, when a stranded individual in Everglades National Park allowed researchers to study the whale and confirm it as a distinct species, a once‑in‑a‑generation opportunity to better understand and protect this whale. Yet only a handful of years later, here we are— on a policy precipice that will push this species, and so many others, closer to the brink. The Rice’s whale has become a poster child for the Gulf’s remarkable marine life, and this decision puts that entire living heritage in clear and present danger.

“If there is one thing Floridians overwhelmingly agree on—across party lines, across communities—it’s this: offshore drilling has no place near our shores. We cannot afford to repeat history, and we cannot gamble with our coasts, our wildlife, or our water.”

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About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than 1.9 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.