Rice’s Whale Blocking Trump’s Gulf Drilling Plan: Will ‘God Squad’ Protect World’s Rarest Species?

Last Updated:March 31, 2026, 19:07 IST

Rice’s Whale Blocking Trump’s Gulf Drilling Plan: Why is the species endangered? What is a God Squad? What are Trump’s plans for the Gulf of Mexico? News18 explains.

In the way of US President Donald Trump’s plan to expand oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico stands Rice’s Whale, the world’s rarest whales that live only in the Gulf. Scientists fear drilling could push the endangered giant mammal to extinction.

Why is the species endangered? What is a God Squad? What are Trump’s plans? News18 explains.

Why Rice’s whale matters

It’s the only whale species that lives year-round in the Gulf of Mexico, where there are fewer than 100 — and possibly fewer than 50 — left, scientists said.

Recognised as a distinct species in 2021, the Rice’s whale is usually found in a narrow area in the northeastern part of the Gulf, in waters 100 to 400 meters deep.

They’re fairly picky eaters, diving to the gulf floor for fatty fish — mainly silver-rag driftfish — during the day and then resting close to the surface at night, meaning that they are “quite living on the edge," Jeremy Kiszka, a biological sciences professor at Florida International University, told the AP.

That’s because they undertake strenuous dives for a specific kind of food that also might be affected by more drilling and other changes in the gulf, and they’re vulnerable to vessel strikes at night, Kiszka said. Noise could disrupt the whales’ foraging behavior, while increased global warming — tied to the burning of fossil fuels, including oil and gas — could change where their prey fish live, Kiszka said.

The whales also are susceptible to pollution, with a significant portion of an already-small population believed to have been killed by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. “What we see today is just a species … that is unlucky in many ways: small home, specialized diet and living in a place that is not easy in the first place," because of human impacts, Kiszka said.

Many climate change impacts are “baked in", meaning they will persist even if fossil fuels were eliminated today, said Letise LaFeir, chief of conservation and stewardship at the New England Aquarium.

But the Trump administration proposal “is just compounding the immediate risks locally and the longer term risks," LaFeir said.

The risks

Endangered Rice’s whales live their entire lives in the gulf, where they’re vulnerable to vessel strikes, noise pollution, oil spills and climate change– all of which could increase with more drilling, scientists said. Other animals, including threatened manatees and endangered sea turtles, also could be put at risk, experts said.

What is the US doing?

As the Iran war pushes energy prices sharply higher, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invoked national security in seeking an exemption from endangered species laws, which make it illegal to harm or kill species on a protected list.

Although a government filing specifically mentions Rice’s whales, other threatened and endangered animals also could be harmed by oil spills or other dangers, scientists said. “The ocean is connected, so when there is this kind of action somewhere else, it does have implications across the waters," LaFeir said.

Michael Jasny, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s marine mammal protection project, said consequences could be far-reaching. “It’s … sea turtles, it’s manatees, it’s whooping cranes, it’s various seabirds, it’s Rice’s whales, it’s sperm whales, it is endangered corals," he said. “It is every endangered or threatened species in the Gulf of Mexico."

What next?

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has convened the Endangered Species Committee, a high-level federal panel nicknamed the “God Squad" for its power to exempt projects from federal wildlife laws even if they could lead to a species’ extinction. The proposal aims to open approximately 1.27 billion acres of U.S. federal waters to offshore drilling, including areas critical to the whale’s habitat.

The department did not immediately respond to an email by AP seeking comment. It was established in 1978 as a way to exempt projects from Endangered Species Act protections if a cost-benefit analysis concluded it was the only way to achieve net economic benefits in the national or regional interest.

The seven-member committee is led by the secretary of the Interior, with five other federal officials and with affected states getting one shared vote. Five votes are required for an exemption.

Has the committee ever issued exemptions?

The committee has only issued exemptions twice. The first was for construction of a dam on a section of the Platte River considered critical habitat for whooping cranes, though a negotiated settlement won significant protections that led to overall ecosystem improvements. The second was for logging in northern spotted owl habitat, but the request was withdrawn after environmental groups sued, arguing that the committee’s decision was political and violated legal procedures.

Jasny fears the Trump administration wants to eliminate rigorous scrutiny of future exemptions and “turn this … into a thing that could be invoked at any time, almost for any purpose."

If it can be done for drilling in the Gulf, he said, “why not California? Why not Alaska?"

“If you can declare an emergency to just kill sea turtles and manatees and whales in the Gulf, you know no species is safe."

Are efforts being made to stop them?

Environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity have filed emergency lawsuits to block the “God Squad" meeting, arguing the administration is bypassing mandatory scientific oversight and transparency.

The committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, to decide whether to grant the drilling exemption.

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