"The Pentagon is behind the first-ever request to convene the “God Squad” to exempt all oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act due to national security reasons, the Justice Department said in a Wednesday court filing.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is convening the Endangered Species Committee March 31 because Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a “national-security determination” under the Endangered Species Act, according to the filing in a lawsuit challenging the meeting filed by the Center for Biological Diversity.
“On March 13, 2026, the Secretary of War notified the Secretary of the Interior that the Secretary of War found it necessary for reasons of national security to exempt from the ESA’s requirements all Gulf of America oil and gas exploration and development activities” associated with the Interior Department’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Program, the Justice Department said in its filing.
Pat Parenteau, an emeritus law professor at the Vermont Law School, said the ESA’s national security exemption has never before been invoked."
Bobby Magill reports for Bloomberg Environment March 26, 2026.
