Gulf Oil Drilling Exemption Challenged in Court: Texas Brief

Group Seeks to Block Gulf Oil Exemptions

A new filing from the Center for Biological Diversity asks the court to toss the Endangered Species Committee’s exemption of all Gulf of Mexico oil and gas operations from the Endangered Species Act, Bobby Magill reports.

The Center called the committee’s decision “horrific as it is illegal,” adding that it “will likely drive the extremely endangered Rice’s whale to extinction.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who chairs the committee, said during Tuesday’s meeting that disruptive Endangered Species Act litigation shouldn’t block a critical energy source. The unprecedented exemption was granted after Defense ...