The rare whale species in the way of Trump’s oil drilling plan

One of the world’s rarest whales lives in 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.

Endangered Rice’s whales live their entire lives in the gulf, where they’re vulnerable to vessel strikes, noise pollution, oil spills, and climate change — all of which could increase with more drilling. Other animals, including threatened manatees and endangered sea turtles, also could be put at risk.

As the Iran war pushes energy prices sharply higher, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth invoked national security in seeking an exemption from endangered species laws, which make it illegal to harm or kill species on a protected list. The seldom-used Endangered Species Committee granted that request on March 31.

Rice’s whale is the only whale species that lives year-round in the Gulf of Mexico, where there are fewer than 100 left, per scientists.

Recognised as a distinct species in 2021, Rice’s whale is usually found in a narrow area in the northeastern part of the water body.

They dive to the gulf floor for fatty fish, mainly silver-rag driftfish, during the day, then rest close to the surface at night. These dives are strenuous and their specific kind of food might also be affected by more drilling and other changes. Which means they are “quite living on the edge,” Jeremy Kiszka, a biological sciences professor at Florida International University, said.

Noise could disrupt the whales’ foraging behaviour while global warming could change where their prey live, Kiszka said. The whales are also susceptible to pollution, with a significant portion of an already small population believed to have been killed by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Many climate change impacts are “baked in,” 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 proposal “is just compounding the immediate risks locally and the longer-term risks,” LaFeir added.

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

For example, hundreds of sea turtles, including endangered Kemp’s Ridley and loggerheads, are rescued and rehabilitated every year before they are released into the Atlantic Ocean and swim for their nesting grounds in the Gulf, per LaFeir.

“It’s … sea turtles, manatees, whooping cranes, various seabirds, Rice’s whales, sperm whales, endangered corals,” Michael Jasny, director of the Natural Resources Defence Council’s marine mammal protection project, said. “It is every endangered or threatened species in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Before Tuesday, the committee had only issued exemptions twice. The first was for the construction of a dam on a section of the Platte River considered critical habitat for whooping cranes, though a negotiated settlement won significant protections that led to overall ecosystem improvements.

The second was for logging in northern spotted owl habitat, but the request was withdrawn after environmental groups sued, arguing that the committee’s decision was political and violated legal procedures.