Court Clears Way for Energy Development in Gulf of America

The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland today dismissed a lawsuit challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service's 2025 biological opinion and incidental take statement for oil and gas activities in the Gulf of America. The court held that the case is moot and that it lacks jurisdiction to proceed because the Endangered Species Committee exempted those activities from the requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The dismissal was effective yesterday.

On March 31, the Endangered Species Committee voted unanimously to exempt all Gulf of America oil and gas activities from the ESA, after the Secretary of War found that the exemption was necessary for reasons of national security. This is the first exemption the committee has ever granted on national security grounds. As the United States explained in its motion to dismiss, the exemption removed the underlying federal action from the ESA's requirements. With this exemption, the challenged biological opinion and incidental take statement retain no legal force, leaving no live controversy for the court to resolve and no effective relief it could grant.

"The Endangered Species Committee's exemption reflects a judgment at the highest levels of government that producing American energy in the Gulf of America is essential to our national security," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). "Today's decision clears away litigation that threatened development in the Gulf, in furtherance of President Donald J. Trump's directive to unleash American energy."

The Endangered Species Committee consists of six senior federal officials and is chaired by the Secretary of the Interior. Congress authorized the Committee to exempt agency actions from Section 7 of the ESA and directed that it grant an exemption whenever the Secretary of War determines that an exemption is necessary for reasons of national security. Because that exemption now governs the Gulf oil and gas program, today's dismissal ensures that the ESA cannot be used to disrupt energy production the government has determined is vital to the Nation.

Attorneys with ENRD's Wildlife and Marine Resources Section handled this matter.