**Court Orders Federal Agency to Enhance Protection for Rice’s Whales from Oil and Gas Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico**
A recent court decision has significantly altered the landscape for offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, mandating that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must revise its biological opinion to better safeguard the critically endangered Rice’s whale and the Gulf sturgeon.
On August 19, 2024, the US District Court for the District of Maryland delivered a ruling in favor of environmental groups, specifically Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Turtle Island Restoration Network. The court found that NMFS’s biological opinion, which assesses the impact of oil and gas extraction on protected marine life, was fundamentally flawed. The opinion underestimated the risks and harms associated with oil spills and failed to adequately address the jeopardy posed to the Rice’s whale and the Gulf sturgeon.
The court’s decision is based on several key points. Firstly, NMFS incorrectly assumed that the population of the Rice’s whale remained at pre-Deepwater Horizon levels, when in fact, the catastrophic oil spill in 2010 significantly diminished their numbers. There are only estimated 33 to 44 Rice’s whales remaining globally, making this species one of the rarest on the planet.
Secondly, NMFS’s biological opinion only proposed mitigating measures for two of the five stressors likely to jeopardize the Rice’s whale. The court also pointed out that the agency’s approach to determining the number of listed species taken by vessels was irrational and never recognized oil spill take as an incidental take, further adding to the issue.
This ruling could have far-reaching implications for future oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The court gave NMFS a deadline to complete a new biological opinion by December 20, 2024, failing which the current opinion will be vacated. NMFS has begun working on a revised biological opinion, aiming for completion