{"id":103296,"date":"2026-04-01T08:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103296"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:31:10","slug":"trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump officials exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf from endangered species rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Matthew Brown The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists&#8217; lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran. Critics said the move by the government&#8217;s Endangered Species Committee could doom a rare whale species and harm other marine life. Nicknamed the \u201cGod Squad\u201d by groups who say it can decide a species\u2019 fate, the committee comprises several Trump administration officials and is chaired by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. It met Tuesday for the first time in more than three decades amid global oil shocks and soaring energy prices brought on by the Iran war. The U.S. pumps more oil than any other nation, but&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F01%2Ftrump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Matthew Brown The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists&#8217; lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran. Critics said the move by the government&#8217;s Endangered Species Committee could doom a rare whale species and harm other marine life. Nicknamed the \u201cGod Squad\u201d by groups who say it can decide a species\u2019 fate, the committee comprises several Trump administration officials and is chaired by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. It met Tuesday for the first time in more than three decades amid global oil shocks and soaring energy prices brought on by the Iran war. The U.S. pumps more oil than any other nation, but... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F01%2Ftrump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump officials exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf from endangered species rules - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump officials exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf from endangered species rules - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Matthew Brown The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists&#8217; lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran. Critics said the move by the government&#8217;s Endangered Species Committee could doom a rare whale species and harm other marine life. Nicknamed the \u201cGod Squad\u201d by groups who say it can decide a species\u2019 fate, the committee comprises several Trump administration officials and is chaired by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. It met Tuesday for the first time in more than three decades amid global oil shocks and soaring energy prices brought on by the Iran war. The U.S. pumps more oil than any other nation, but\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T12:31:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Trump officials exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf from endangered species rules\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-01T12:31:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":965,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/trump-officials-exempt-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-gulf-from-endangered-species-rules\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trump officials exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf from endangered species rules - 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