Group Asks Court to Reverse ‘God Squad’ Exemption for Gulf Oil

The Endangered Species Committee’s exemption of all Gulf of Mexico oil and gas operations from the Endangered Species Act is illegal and should be tossed, the Center for Biological Diversity claimed in a court filing Tuesday.

The court should also vacate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s findings that litigation challenging Gulf drilling under the ESA poses a national security threat serious enough to exempt offshore oil and gas activities from the act itself, the Center argued.

“The presence of litigation is not a rational basis for invoking the national security exemption, and could be applied to any litigation or threat of ...