The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most biologically rich bodies of water on earth. It is home to wood storks and reddish egrets, manatees and dolphins, sea turtles that have navigated these waters for millions of years, and a whale species so rare that fewer than 100 remain — and every single one of them lives here.
On March 31, 2026, a federal committee voted unanimously to exempt all Gulf oil and gas drilling from Endangered Species Act protections. It is worth saying clearly: the ESA has never stopped a single drop of oil from being drilled in the Gulf. It has only required that drilling be done with guardrails that protect the living things sharing that water. Removing those guardrails does not produce more energy. It simply removes accountability. And it is not only these twelve species that will feel it — the corals, the seagrasses, the fish populations, the migratory birds that depend on this coastline, the fishermen and coastal communities whose livelihoods are tied to a healthy Gulf ecosystem.
This campaign exists because these animals deserve someone to speak for them. If you want to help, the most direct thing you can do right now is support Earthjustice's legal challenge to the exemption, and contact your senators before H.R. 1897 — a bill that would gut the ESA at every level — moves to a floor vote.
Earthjustice: earthjustice.org · Find your senator: senate.gov
Instagram @salt_pines for more of the campaign (starts on April 10, 2026)