One of the world’s rarest whales lives in only one place: the Gulf of Mexico, where the Trump administration wants to expand oil and gas drilling that scientists fear could push the giant mammal to extinction.
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.
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.
The Interior Department on Tuesday will consider the request at a meeting of the seldom-used Endangered Species Committee — nicknamed the “God Squad” because it can approve federal projects even they could cause extinction. The department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
What is known about the Rice’s whale?
In this 2024 image provided by NOAA Fisheries, a Rice’s whale is visible from onboard the NOAA Twin Otter aircraft off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico. (Paul Nagelkirk/NOAA Fisheries (Permit #21938) via AP)
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.
Recognized 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,” said Jeremy Kiszka, a biological sciences professor at Florida International University.
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.
How else could oil and gas drilling put them at risk?
Oil platforms are visible through the haze near the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, Sept. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
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.
What about other species?
Bleached coral sits next to healthy coral during a scuba dive at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, Sept. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
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.
For example, hundreds of sea turtles — including endangered Kemp’s Ridley and loggerheads — are rescued and rehabilitated every year before they are released into the Atlantic Ocean and swim for their nesting grounds in the gulf, she 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 is the ‘God Squad?’
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.
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.”
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