Chevron, the second largest oil and gas company in the US, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the State of Louisiana are suing the White House over 6 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico.
By Charlotte Law
The habitat of a whale species on the verge of extinction is at stake at an upcoming court case between oil and gas companies and the US government. The area is protected under an agreement between President Biden and environmental groups to save one of the most endangered whales in the world: the Rice’s Whale.
The plaintiffs claim the area was illegally withdrawn from an auction of oil drilling rights of 73 million acres of federally owned land due to take place on September 27.
Biden paused federal drilling shortly after taking office in 2021, but a clause in the Inflation Reduction Act introduced last year required the government to push ahead with the lease sale.
Though 67 million acres of federal land will still be available for auction, API’s Senior Vice President Ryan Meyers called the environmental protection effort an ‘unjustified action to further restrict American energy access in the Gulf of Mexico’.
He said: ‘Despite Congress’ clear intention in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration has announced a “lease sale in name only” that removes approximately 6 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico from the sale.’
API is also taking issue with new instructions for natural gas vessels to keep a lookout for Rice’s whales, arguing it was ‘ignoring all other vessel traffic’ and unfairly targeting the oil industry.
An agreement with the Department for Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) saw conservationists rejoicing in 2020, as new protections were put in place to allow for marine life recovery. Now it seems these concessions are at risk.
The northeastern area of the Gulf is the only known home of the Rice’s Whale. The sea mammal was only identified as a separate species of baleen whale in 2021, and immediately listed as critically endangered in the IUCN Red List. The Marine Mammal Commission estimates there are only 51 members left of the species.
On their profile of Rice’s whale, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) noted that: ‘With such a small population size, the death of a single whale could have devastating consequences for the population’s recovery. ‘
It is thought that the species was largely driven to extinction by whaling activity between 1911 and 1987. However, in recent years, the biggest threat to their recovery has been energy exploration and development, and oil spills, according to the NMFS. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill decimated the population by 22 percent.
The oil coats the whale’s baleen, filter-like fringed plates in their mouths that they use to catch the microscopic prey they feed on, causing them to starve to death. Protecting the area from oil exploration is key to saving the species, which is why the NMFS proposed designating the northern Gulf of Mexico as a critical habitat for Rice’s whale in July.
However, the oil industry appears set on resisting conservation efforts.
