Fears grow for endangered species as the US president sets about dismantling basic laws to protect them to make way for oil and gas drilling
Donald Trump has already begun dismantling parts of the envied US endangered species protections in his quest to boost oil and gas drilling, in part using a panel with an ominous name: the God squad.
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A ‘God squad’ to decide protections for species
One of Trump’s first executive orders after returning to the White House in January shows, though, that he is prepared to further escalate an overhaul of endangered species laws, experts say. The order, which declared a national energy emergency even amid a record glut of oil and gas drilling, calls for the endangered species committee, a group nicknamed the “God squad”, to meet at least quarterly.
This committee, which would be led by Burgum, five other senior officials from different government agencies and a representative from an affected state, has rarely been used but has the power to override the Endangered Species Act even if it results in the extinction of a species, hence its existential nickname.
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See the origginal article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/13/endangered-extinction-us-nature-protections-survive-trump-god-squad-aoe
