WASHINGTON (CN) - The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Interior Department on Wednesday in an effort to block a looming Endangered Species Committee meeting that could lift restrictions on oil and gas tanker movement in the Gulf of Mexico. 

In a 26-page lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the environmental group warns the March 31 meeting's ultimate decision regarding speed limits and sea life monitoring requirements meant to prevent ship strikes will drive the critically endangered Rice's whale to extinction.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there are less than 100 Rice's whales remaining, one of the rarest whale species in the world. The most recent estimates from 2018 indicate there are approximately 50 left.

An updated population estimate will use sighting data collected during surveys in 2023 and 2024, although the committee's meeting would quickly make that information outdated, the center argues. 

"Secretary [Douglas Burgum]'s decision to undertake the exemption process without meeting any of the legal requirements in the [Endangered Species Act] for doing so had potentially disastrous consequences," the center said. 

"Numerous ESA-listed species are adversely affected by Gulf oil and gas operations, including the critically imperiled Rice's whale, sperm whale, several species of sea turned, Gulf sturgeon, West Indian manatee, numerous bird species and several species of beach mice with highly limited ranges," the center added. 

The endangered sea turtle species include the green, hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles.

Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, slammed the decision in a statement, noting that the last time the committee convened was in 1991 under former President George H.W. Bush. 

"Burgum's extinction committee is immoral, illegal and unnecessary," Suckling said. "There's no emergency, no legal basis to convene the committee, and no legal way to approve the extinction of Rice's whales. This sham is nothing more than Burgum posturing for Trump and saving the fossil fuel industry a few dollars by allowing its boats to drive faster and more recklessly."

The March 31 meeting, colloquially referred to as the "extinction committee," will focus on whether to grant an exemption under the Endangered Species Act for oil and gas exploration, development and production in the Gulf of Mexico. 

According to the center, such exemptions must identify specific agency actions - in this case by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement - that the Interior Department is trying to exempt. 

Further, the interior secretary is required to publicly announce the meeting, provide details regarding the meeting's purpose and provide access to interested members of the public.  

The meeting must also follow a determination by the National Marine Fisheries Service or the Fish and Wildlife Service that any oil and gas activities are jeopardizing the continuing existence of any endangered species and that there's no reasonable or prudent alternative that would avoid that jeopardy. 

In May 2025, the fisheries service issued a biological opinion concluding oil industry ship strikes were jeopardizing the remaining Rice's whale population, along with sperm whales and sea turtles. The fisheries service issued a similar opinion in 2020. 

According to the center, Burgum's decision to move forward without meeting those requirements could have "potentially disastrous consequences" for the endangered species within the Gulf of Mexico. 

The center is asking U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, a Barack Obama appointee, to block Burgum from convening the committee on March 31, unless the legal requirements are satisfied. 

The Trump administration approved a deep drilling project 250 miles off the Louisiana coast on Monday. The center warns that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion was caused by similar "risky drilling" and resulted in a massive oil spill throughout the Gulf and a 22% decline in the Rice's whale population. 

Last year, the Trump administration moved to open up large swaths of the eastern Gulf to oil and gas drilling, including areas off the southwest Florida coast that have been under a drilling moratorium due to risks to the coastal Everglades. 

In the center's statement, Suckling highlighted the fact the center had won 90% of its lawsuits against the government during Trump's first term, and vowed to win this lawsuit as well. 

"Slowing boat speeds is not just reasonable, it's easy, and it's the absolute minimum the oil and gas industry can do to save Rice's whales from extinction," Suckling said. 

The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment. 

Source: Courthouse News Service