Gulf Mexico

Advocates expressed alarm as new project drills deeper into ocean bed, pointing to company’s failures at Deepwater Horizon spillSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxEnvironmental groups have sued the Trump administration over its approval of BP’s huge new ultra-deep oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, 16 years to the day since the company’s Deepwater Horizon disaster caused the worst oil spill in US history. Continue reading...

Critics say exemption exploits White House’s ‘self-made gas crisis’, and could doom the rare Rice’s whaleSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA US government panel on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a move which critics say could doom a rare whale species and harm other marine life.The Endangered Species Committee – which had not convened in more than three decades – voted to approve the request for the ESA exemption at the request of the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Continue reading...

President is convening so-called ‘God squad’ to override provisions of Endangered Species Act for ‘national security’Donald Trump is dispatching a so-called “God squad” of top officials to revoke protections for endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, purportedly to protect national security by expanding oil and gas industry operations.If successful, the administration may kill off dozens of protected species – from Rice’s whales and whooping cranes to sea turtles. Continue reading...