Action Alerts

Stop Trump’s “God Squad” from driving species to extinction

What's At Stake

Time and again, the current presidential administration has done everything it can to open public lands and waters for extractive industries. Now, it’s giving those industries a free pass to harm and kill threatened species.

Just days after taking office, President Trump issued an executive order that sought to invoke a rarely used provision in the Endangered Species Act that empowers a committee — hand-picked by the president — to decide the fate of imperiled species.

This committee is sometimes referred to as the “God Squad” because it has the power to greenlight controversial projects that prioritize special interests, even at the cost of wiping out an entire species. It’s more accurate to call it the “Extinction Committee.”

Tell Congress that it must do everything in its power to make sure the Extinction Committee is not given the rubberstamped authority to potentially indefinitely wipe out entire species with the wave of a hand. 

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For the first time in over 30 years, the Extinction Committee came together for a meeting that lasted about 15 minutes and decided to give the oil industry a free pass to ignore the Endangered Species Act in the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out protections for imperiled wildlife, including whales, sea turtles, fish, corals, and birds.

When Congress wrote this provision into the Endangered Species Act, it outlined many procedural steps before the Extinction Committee could even meet.  Only in extreme cases was the committee supposed to convene to grant waivers. Those rare cases are when:

  • endangered species protections are deemed at odds with “public interest” and;
  • no reasonable alternatives are available.

Driving species to extinction is not in the public’s interest. The Endangered Species Act is wildly effective and widely popular. The law has prevented extinctions of numerous iconic species, recovered imperiled plants and animals, and protected the ecosystems we all rely on. Humans are not isolated from the natural environment, and what happens to other creatures affects our own existence, too.

We cannot let the Trump administration use false emergencies to twist the law to throw out longstanding, hard-won environmental protections. Write to your member of Congress today. 

Three dolphins swim underwater in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dolphins swim in the Gulf of Mexico. (Talia Cohen / Unsplash)

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Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.