What Is the "God Squad"?
Created by Congress in 1978, the Endangered Species Committee (AKA “God Squad”) is a body with the power to approve projects – even if the action would lead to the eventual elimination of a specific wildlife species. The committee is commonly referred to as the "God Squad" because it has the power to decide if an imperiled species that is protected by the Endangered Species Act should live or die. In essence, it has the ability to “play god” with wildlife already on the brink of extinction.
If you haven't heard of the Endangered Species Committee, you are not alone. The committee has only been convened three times in the past 47 years and it has only granted two exemptions -- the second of which (issued in 1992) ended up being withdrawn following litigation. The use of the committee is rare due to the fact that reasonable alternatives are often found that allow an action or activity to proceed without driving a species to extinction. This is one of the benefits of the consultation process mandated within the Endangered Species Act: it allows for the communication and collaboration between different parts of government when moving forward with a project.
Why Is This Important?
The Trump administration has called a closed-door meeting of the "God Squad" on March 31, 2026. To say that this is an unprecedented move is an understatement. In a recent legal filing, it became clear that the committee was convened solely by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. According to the filing, this action was invoked due to national security concerns in the effort to justify the move to seek an exemption for all oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act. Yes, you read that correctly, they want ALL oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to be exempted from the Endangered Species Act. This would allow the indiscriminate killing of endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, including the critically endangered Rice's whale. There are only 51 known Rice's whales in the world -- all of them in the Gulf.
What Does This Mean for Wildlife in the Gulf?
It should come as no surprise that the Trump administration is illegally asking the Endangered Species Committee to play God. If the committee votes to allow oil and gas activities in the Gulf to be exempt from the Endangered Species Act, there is a good chance the Rice’s whale will go extinct and that many other imperiled species will be negatively affected.
The rich ecology of the Gulf has already been severely impacted by oil and gas development, and is still recovering from the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Exempting all oil and gas activities in the Gulf from the Endangered Species Act would be yet another blow to a region whose wildlife and people rely upon its health. Rubberstamping oil and gas drilling in the Gulf would mean..
- Sea turtles already struggling to survive could face increased vessel strikes, habitat destruction, and danger from oil spills.
- Coral reefs and deep-sea ecosystems could be damaged or destroyed, forever altering the delicate balance of the Gulf.
- Rice's whales, with only about 50 remaining on the planet, could be pushed further toward extinction.
What is Sierra Club Doing?
We're mobilizing right now, pushing back through advocacy, legal action, and public pressure. We're giving everything we've got to stopping this reckless giveaway – and your advocacy and support is what makes our response possible.