What Are Our Goals?
Operation Gulf Guardians is fighting for permanent protections for the critically endangered Rice’s whale and its habitat in the Gulf of Mexico.
Our goals include:
• A permanent ban on oil and gas drilling in critical Rice’s whale habitat
• Full enforcement of vessel speed limits below 10 knots throughout the corridor
• Restore federal protections designed to reduce risks to Rice’s whales that were removed in February 2025 (These protections, previously issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), were designed to reduce threats to Rice’s whales from offshore industrial activity)
• Full designation and enforcement of critical habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act
With only 50 Rice’s whales remaining, every decision matters.
What Are the Obstacles?
On March 31, 2026, the Trump administration convened the Endangered Species endagered species Committee, often called the “God Squad” because of its power to override the Endangered Species Act.
In its first meeting in decades, the committee voted unanimously to exempt the entire Gulf oil and gas industry from ESA protections, removing mitigation requirements for all protected species in the region.
The decision came despite the fact that Gulf drilling operations had never once been halted due to ESA consultation requirements.
Five weeks later, the federal government announced a formal status review of the Rice’s whale that could ultimately remove the species from the endangered list entirely.
This is the danger:
First remove protections.
Then remove the species from the list.
Together, these actions leave a population of 50 whales with virtually no legal safeguards.
But we have seen this before.
In 1992, a similar “God Squad” exemption threatened protections for the northern spotted owl. Environmental groups challenged the decision in court, where judges later found that illegal political influence had shaped the vote. The exemption was ultimately withdrawn, and stronger protections followed.
Today, multiple legal challenges to the Gulf exemption are already underway, led by Earth justice, the Southern Environmental Law Center, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Center for Biological Diversity.
The fight is far from over.
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