Things to know about Rice’s whale, rare species in way of Trump plans for more Gulf drilling

One of the world’s rarest whales lives in just one place: the Gulf of Mexico, where the Trump administration wants to expand oil and gas drilling that scientists fear could push the giant mammal to extinction.

Rice’s whales, an endangered species, live their entire lives in the Gulf, where they are vulnerable to ship strikes, noise pollution, oil spills and climate change – all of which could increase with more drilling, scientists said. Other animals, including threatened manatees and sea turtles, could also be put at risk, experts say.

As the war in Iran drives up energy prices dramatically, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has cited national security to seek an exemption from endangered species laws, which prohibit harming or killing species on a protected list.

The Interior Department will consider the request Tuesday at a meeting of the rarely used Endangered Species Committee, nicknamed “God Squad” because it can approve federal projects even if they could cause extinction. The ministry did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

It is the only species of whale that lives year-round in the Gulf of Mexico, where there are fewer than 100, or even fewer than 50, left, according to scientists.

Recognized as a distinct species in 2021, the Rice’s whale is usually found in a narrow area in the northeastern part of the Gulf, in waters 100 to 400 meters deep.

They are quite picky eaters, diving to the bottom of the gulf for oily fish — mostly silver drift fish — during the day and then resting near the surface at night, meaning they “live pretty much on the edge,” said Jeremy Kiszka, a professor of biological sciences at Florida International University.

That’s because they undertake intense diving for a specific type of food that could also be affected by more drilling and other changes in the Gulf, and they are vulnerable to ship strikes at night, Kiszka explained.

Noise could disrupt whales’ feeding behavior, while increased global warming – linked to the burning of fossil fuels including oil and gas – could change where their prey live, Kiszka said. Whales are also susceptible to pollution, with a significant portion of an already small population killed by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

“What we’re seeing today is just a species… that’s bad luck in many ways: a small house, a specialized diet and living in a place that’s not easy to begin with” due to human impact, Kiszka said.

Many impacts of climate change are “entrenched,” meaning they will persist even if fossil fuels were eliminated today, said Letise LaFeir, chief of conservation and stewardship at the New England Aquarium.

But the Trump administration’s proposal “only compounds the immediate local risks and the long-term risks,” LaFeir said.

Although a government filing specifically mentions Rice’s whales, other threatened or endangered animals could also be harmed by oil spills or other hazards, scientists said.

“The ocean is connected, so when this kind of action happens elsewhere, it has implications across the waters,” LaFeir said.

For example, hundreds of sea turtles – including the Kemp’s turtle and the endangered loggerhead turtle – are rescued and rehabilitated each year before being released into the Atlantic Ocean and swimming to their nesting grounds in the Gulf, she said.

Michael Jasny, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Marine Mammal Protection Project, said the consequences could be far-reaching.

“These are sea turtles, manatees, whooping cranes, various seabirds, Rice’s whales, sperm whales, endangered corals,” he said. “These are all endangered or threatened species in the Gulf of Mexico.”

It was created in 1978 to exempt projects from the protections of the Endangered Species Act if a cost-benefit analysis concluded that it was the only way to achieve net economic benefits in the national or regional interest.

The seven-member committee is led by the Interior secretary, with five other federal officials and affected states getting a split vote. Five votes are required for an exemption.

The committee has only granted exemptions twice. The first involved the construction of a dam on a section of the Platte River considered critical habitat for whooping cranes, although a negotiated settlement obtained significant protections that led to overall ecosystem improvements. The second concerned logging in northern spotted owl habitat, but the application was withdrawn after environmental groups sued, arguing the committee’s decision was political and violated legal procedures.

Jasny worries that the Trump administration wants to eliminate rigorous scrutiny of future exemptions and “turn this…into something that could be invoked at any time, for almost any purpose.”

If it can be done for drilling in the Gulf, he said, “why not in California? Why not in Alaska?”

“If you can declare an emergency just to kill sea turtles, manatees and whales in the Gulf, you know no species is safe.”

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