The ESA, which was enacted with good intentions, has perhaps been most effective in blocking, delaying, or complicating energy development. In the Gulf of America, the primary species in recent ESA battles has been the Rice’s whale.
While this blog was focused on the Santa Ynez Unit drama, a major ESA policy maneuver for the Gulf of America was in the works.
A provision of the ESA authorizes an Endangered Species Committee, known to critics as the “God Squad,” to grant exemptions to ESA requirements. The Committee is comprised of the Secretary of the Interior (chair), the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Army, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Yesterday, the Committee met (notice attached) and agreed to exempt Gulf oil and gas operations from the Endangered Species Act.
Knowing the swings in the political pendulum, provisions for reversing this decision warrant attention. The applicable language from the statute is pasted below:
(B) An exemption shall be permanent under subparagraph (A) unless—
(i) the Secretary finds, based on the best scientific and commercial data available, that such exemption would result in the extinction of a species that was not the subject of consultation under subsection (a)(2) or was not identified in any biological assessment conducted under subsection (c), and
(ii) the Committee determines within 60 days after the date of the Secretary’s finding that the exemption should not be permanent.
So, barring legislation, the exemption would seem to be difficult to overturn.
Earthjustice is vowing to “go to court to stop this illegal order.”
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 