On March 31, the “God Squad” met for the first time in more than three decades and, in just 15 minutes, approved a sweeping exemption under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico. The decision allows those activities to proceed despite prior findings from federal wildlife experts that they could jeopardize the endangered Rice’s whale.
In a new article on the Yale Journal on Regulation and ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice blog, Erica Kranz, EELP senior attorney, and Andrew Mergen, faculty director of the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic, explain why the committee’s action is so unusual — and potentially consequential. Rather than following the ESA’s traditional, highly structured exemption process (which includes public notice, hearings, and detailed factual analysis), the committee relied for the first time on a separate “national security” exemption provision. That approach bypassed typical safeguards and rested entirely on a determination from the Secretary of Defense, overriding scientific findings without public input or deliberation.
Read the full article.