"Several high-ranking Trump officials that make up the so-called “God Squad” voted on Tuesday to quash longstanding Endangered Species Act regulations in the Gulf of Mexico, exempting all oil and gas drilling. It’s an outcome environmentalists fear could spell doom for the critically endangered Rice’s whale, a species that only exists in the Gulf and has just 50 whales left in existence.
The “God Squad” is a panel of six high ranking federal officials on the Endangered Species Committee that has the ability to decide exemptions in the Endangered Species Act. It earned the name because the committee has the power to play God.
“It literally has the power of life or death,” said Pat Parenteau, an emeritus law professor at the Vermont Law School, who helped write the original exemption provision in the law. “It can grant an exemption that would actually result in the extinction of a species.”
Such exemptions to the Endangered Species Act are extremely rare. Tuesday marked just the fourth time in history the committee has voted, and the first it has voted for an exemption on national security grounds."
Ella Nilsen reports for CNN March 31, 2026.
SEE ALSO:
"The ‘God Squad’ Waives Environmental Rules for Offshore Drilling" (New York Times)
"In Sweeping ESA Rollback, Doug Burgum and Pete Hegseth Play God" (Public Domain)
