NRDC v. Burgum (God Squad Cases)

The Gulf of Mexico is home to a vast array of wildlife, including imperiled species like Florida manatees, sea turtles, and Rice’s whales—the most critically endangered whale on earth. But on March 31, 2026, the Endangered Species Committee—a group of high-level Trump administration officials more commonly known as the “God Squad”—granted an extraordinary and baseless exemption allowing oil and gas operations in the Gulf to proceed without guardrails that protect endangered species. The exemption was premised on a finding by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that such an exemption was necessary for national security reasons.  

Within days, NRDC sued the members of the committee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that the God Squad entirely skipped key procedural requirements to issue an exemption well in excess of its statutory authority.  

NRDC also sued Secretary Hegseth in this lawsuit, arguing that his national security finding was arbitrary and capricious. Hegseth invoked speculative fears about disruptions to oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, even though production and corporate profits are at all-time highs. If this administration were truly interested in advancing energy independence, it would not be waging a costly and self-defeating war on domestic renewable energy development. Because the committee’s exemption and Hegseth’s national security determination were both in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, we are seeking a court order declaring the exemption unlawful and invalidating it. Victory would restore crucial protections for Gulf wildlife and uphold the strength of core Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections.  

The role of the God Squad  

 For more than 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has safeguarded our nation's most imperiled wildlife, preventing the extinction of 99 percent of species listed under its care. Among other protections, the ESA directs all federal agencies to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize listed species or destroy the designated areas those species call home. Agencies must comply with this protective standard in consultation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service; agencies with expertise in terrestrial and marine wildlife, respectively. This process, called “interagency consultation,” is considered the “heart” of the ESA. While consultation very rarely stops agency actions entirely, it ensures a careful and deliberate review and helps agencies minimize the effects of their actions on listed species.  

 In extraordinarily rare circumstances, a necessary action might not be able to move forward in compliance with the ESA. To account for this possibility, Congress created an escape valve: the Endangered Species Committee, a committee of cabinet-level officials with the power to allow an action to move forward, even if it threatens to drive a protected species to extinction. It is commonly called the God Squad.  

An egregious exemption 

On March 31, 2026, the God Squad convened for the first time in more than 30 years and granted an exemption for a wide category of oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico for reasons of national security. The move is unprecedented; never has the committee even considered such a sweeping exemption, nor has it ever relied on national security as the basis for an exemption. The stakes of NRDC’s lawsuit could hardly be higher—for imperiled species and the law that has long protected them. Oil and gas operations pose countless risks to Gulf wildlife, from vessel strikes and oil spills to seismic exploration that torments marine species with millions of seismic blasts. The exemption threatens to allow these operations to drive species to extinction.  

 But the exemption is also part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to gut protections for American wildlife for the benefit of wealthy oil and gas industry executives. President Trump has directed the God Squad to meet quarterly, meaning this exemption could be the first of many. Invoking the God Squad each time species protections are inconvenient for industry could fundamentally undermine the ESA’s consultation process, spelling disaster for species well beyond the Gulf.