Key Takeaways
What Happened: The Endangered Species Committee (the Committee, or the “God Squad”) voted to exempt Gulf oil and gas activities related to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Program from Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation requirements based on national security concerns. This action marks the first time the Committee has ever granted an exemption on the basis of national security.
Who’s Impacted: Offshore operators, leaseholders, project developers, and investors with projects or approvals in Gulf waters.
What To Do in Response: Those relying on existing incidental take statements should monitor litigation challenges. Environmental non-governmental organizations have already sued to seek injunctive relief to block reliance on this exemption.
Background
The ESA requires interagency consultation for discretionary federal actions to ensure that the proposed action would not jeopardize the continued existence of a listed species or adversely modify or destroy designated critical habitat. If the consultation finds an action likely to jeopardize a listed species, the proposed action must either be altered to avoid that result or receive an exemption from ESA’s jeopardy prohibition. Absent an act of Congress, only the Endangered Species Committee, the so-called “God Squad,” has statutory authority to issue exemptions from the ESA’s jeopardy prohibition.
The God Squad has convened four times since its inception, each time to consider applications made under ESA sections 7(g) and (h). The God Squad has never convened under Section 7(j), a separate provision that requires the Secretary of War to make a finding that such exemption is necessary for national security.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum convened the God Squad at the Secretary of War’s request on March 31, 2026. This is the first time the God Squad has convened to consider an application by the Secretary of War. Secretary Hegseth asserted that maintaining a reliable supply of oil and gas from the Gulf is a matter of national security that has been threatened by citizen-suit litigation under the ESA. Therefore, Secretary Hegseth, through the Section 7(j) exemption process, requested an exemption for “all [Gulf] oil and gas exploration and development activities associated with the Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Program.” The national security findings are available here.
In light of the Secretary’s national security findings, the Committee unanimously granted the exemption. The Committee provided a notice of its decision, which the agency will soon publish in the Federal Register.
What It Means for Gulf Operators
Federal agencies no longer need to satisfy ESA consultation requirements for Gulf oil and gas activities “associated with” BOEM’s and BSEE’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Program. Broad implementation of the exemption may facilitate faster agency decisions and allow operators to seek reconsideration of species-related conditions tied to existing permits. However, stakeholders may wish to defer relying on this development until the litigation dust settles.
Conclusion
This ESA exemption will likely have significant implications for businesses with projects or approvals in Gulf waters and other industries related to national security. Interested parties should closely follow any resulting litigation.
