Whale’s Status as Unique Species Probed After Lutnick Remark (1)

The Trump administration is taking the first steps to potentially remove the imperiled Rice’s whale from the endangered species list to promote oil drilling, according to a notice published Monday.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is initiating a status review for the Rice’s whale, seeking details on the critically endangered species’ genetics and population trends and probing the possibility that it may not qualify as a separate species from a related whale. Only 51 of the whales are estimated to remain. The move comes ...