U.S. exempts oil industry from protecting Gulf animals, for 'national security'

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/30/nx-s1-5745926/endangered-species-committee-hegseth-security

by Jimmc414 • 4 months ago

265 87 4 months ago

ZunarJ5• 4 months ago

"Definitive of what capitalism is, this separation severely limits the scope of the political. Devolving vast aspects of social life to the rule of “the market” (in reality, to large corporations), it declares them off-limits to democratic decision-making, collective action, and public control. Its very structure, therefore, deprives us of the ability to decide collectively exactly what and how much we want to produce, on what energic basis and through what kinds of social relations. It deprives us, too, of the capacity to determine how we want to use the social surplus we collectively produce; how we want to relate to nature and to future generations; how we want to organize the work of social reproduction and its relation to that of production. Capitalism, in sum, is fundamentally anti-democratic. Even in the best-case scenario, democracy in a capitalist society must perforce be limited and weak."

https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/publications/centerpiece/fall2...

skybrian• 4 months ago

Do you really want to see votes on "exactly what and how much we want to produce" at each factory? Or what farmers plant?

jrflowers2• 4 months ago

Yeah imagine an economic system where farmers can’t even plant the seeds produced by the crops that they grow every year

adrianN• 4 months ago

There are very few purely capitalistic countries. All countries that I can think of use taxes and regulations to influence market equilibrium. „letting the market figure it out“ is usually the political expression for „I like the current state better than what the opposition proposed“.

bit-anarchist• 4 months ago

Capitalism (in the libertarian sense of the word) makes these "vast aspects of social life" off-limits to democratic deliberation in the same way it does for unrelated private corporations: without authorization from the rightful owners, it is supposed to be illegal (not to say that has stopped either).

She uses terms like "us", "we", "collective", but who are these? All the constituents, the people, in their totality, they are not, for people are not a homogeneous mass. In practice, it, along with democracy, just becomes a nice rhetoric device for stripping people of their rights.

Democracy was never really a good solution to an inclusive society-wide governance system. Most successful implementation even need to add limits to it to prevent the mob rule that's a feature to it. Some try to pretend it is anti-authoritarian, because the members get a vote. But that vote only matters when the voter is part of a majority. If they aren't, they might as well not even have it. That alone already creates a hierarchy. And it only gets worse: most people belong to minority of sorts, and they, by design, get alienated. This means that the doesn't really represent anyone... other than itself, very much like a corporation.

Which leads to the final point: capitalism (in the Marxist sense of the word) isn't antidemocratic. Democracy isn't in opposition to corporatocrocy, it requires a corporation large enough to own everything. Thus, dare I say, the democracy she seems to envision might as well be one of the forms of ultra peak capitalism.

creationcomplex2• 4 months ago

Fascism is the logical fallback to protect wealth from redistribution.

Mistletoe• 4 months ago

Don’t say US. They don’t speak for us all. Only 49.8% of voters. Of which I hope a significant portion have seen the error of their ways come midterms and the next election.

Every day is a new embarrassment law or action like this for America until then. I’ve never felt lower about America in my lifetime. The hope I had, the pride I felt in America, is gone, chunk by chunk, piece by piece, every day.

jrflowers2• 4 months ago

This is a good point. Instead of saying “The US” they should make up a number <50% and put that in the headline. That way it would be confusing and patently untrue

foogazi• 4 months ago

Don’t say US. They don’t speak for us all. Only 49.8% of voters.

E pluribus unum

SanjayMehta• 4 months ago

Out of many one. Look up the definition of "fasces." I love that it's literally a US symbol.

https://academic.oup.com/book/44680/chapter-abstract/3787689...

sheept• 4 months ago

Why? I don't see this pedantry for headlines for other countries like China did this, the UK does that. I think it's well understood that it's referring to the government, not a generalization of its people.

perching_aix2• 4 months ago

My experience is the exact opposite. It is one of the most common points of pedantry I see in controversial political threads, across nations.

Not for no reason either. Turnout was 64.1%, so really it's the active decision of 31.9218% of voters (voting eligibles) culminating in this. Kind of a pattern with modern democracies if you check.

Not that passively endorsing this by not voting when the opportunity was there would be much better though.

bediger4000• 4 months ago

Trump's exceptional, isn't he? He explicitly only governs for his base, and he's explicitly against those outside his base. Sure, he won a slim majority, but it's understood that democratically elected rulers govern all their citizens, if only to prevent electoral violence.

surgical_fire• 4 months ago

One species of Gulf whale is particularly vulnerable. Scientists estimate that only about 51 Rice's whales are left on Earth, all of them in waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which the Trump administration has termed the Gulf of America.

I don't think the animals that may go extinct care about the distinction.

tartoran• 4 months ago

But we all do, and will impact us all directly or indirectly.

brendoelfrendo• 4 months ago

I mean, I didn't vote for Trump, but I think it should be the US. This administration represents us on the global stage. You may not like it, and it may not feel fair, but we will all have to bear the consequences of their actions. Every day something like this happens--and is allowed to happen--is an embarrassment to all of us.

georgemcbay• 4 months ago

Agreed.

I voted against Trump 3 times. But people outside of the US should definitely act as if they cannot trust the US. Because they can't. I mean ffs we collectively elected him twice.

waterTanuki• 4 months ago

Everyone who sat out the 2016 and 2024 elections is responsible for this clown getting into office.

*Democracy is not a spectator sport*. You don't get to complain about corrupt politicians and then go on to make excuses about why you can't vote. You're wasting your citizenship. Either go vote or move to a dictatorship where voting isn't a concern.

glitchc3• 4 months ago

People who didn't vote voted for the winning party. That's true in every election.

8note2• 4 months ago

theyre literally your head of state, heads both legislative houses, and the court.

They're all of the positions for speaking for you, elected by the population of the US

crooked-v• 4 months ago

Oppositional defiant disorder on a cultural scale. Liberals want to protect animals and shift to use of green energy; therefore the fossil fuel industry must be promoted at all cost (even when they don't want to be, as with Trump forcing obsolete coal plants to remain open) and endangered animals must be killed off.

kettlecorn• 4 months ago

It often seems like the contemporary American "conservative" feels that in order to oppose progressives they must become regressives.

throwawaysleep• 4 months ago

They are pretty much openly that way.

glitchc3• 4 months ago

Let me rephrase that to provide a different connotation: Liberals want to kill economic progress to save a few animals.

Neither side is honest, it's just a matter of framing and perspective.

JackYoustra2• 4 months ago

What would Trump have to do for you to not give him the benefit of the doubt from that point forward?

dpc050505• 4 months ago

Do you realize that humans are currently triggering a mass extinction event that may very well threaten the very existence of our species within a couple generations?

tdb7893• 4 months ago

I've noticed this for MAGA people I've met in real life but for the people actually making decisions, this administration (and their friends/political donors) has been making too much money for basic greed to not also be a huge factor.

marcosdumay• 4 months ago

Nah, that's just bribes.

whalesalad2• 4 months ago

I always thought Trump was such a joke. Completely non-threatening, just a big personality who kept popping up here and there. I even bought a MAGA hat back in the summer before the election explicitly because I thought it was hysterical he was even running, and knew he would lose. I thought the whole thing was a gag, a joke, just like Bloomberg. It didn't even cross my mind that someone so woefully inadequate for the position, so abrasive, so criminal, so disgusting -- could ever get elected to the presidency. In the grand scheme of the universe, he was a nobody. His name would have died with him.

Boy was I wrong. His name will be studied for decades to come in all the worst ways.

Glyptodon2• 4 months ago

He definitely combines traits from a best hits list of notorious leaders, ranging from King George III, Kaiser Wilhelm, Santa Ana, Porfirio Díaz, and more.

And Americans are supposed to understand this, but largely don't. Kind of like lots of people love the founders in theory, but act like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson would have loved a theocracy. And basically don't know anything about stuff that would have influenced them, like the Commonwealth and the Glorious Revolution.

It's an absolutely literal Confederacy of Dunces.

ngai_aku• 4 months ago

Sorry, are you referring to the summer of 2015? Because purchasing a MAGA hat in 2025 for the lols is tasteless and shameful. I share your surprise generally, but at a certain point it’s just irresponsible to treat it all like a joke with no consequences

whalesalad2• 4 months ago

yes 2015

alanwreath• 4 months ago

Wasn’t diversifying US energy sources also a national security issue? And wind energy was set aside because, wait for it, they killed animals. Birds to be specific.

helterskelter• 4 months ago

Remember when we destroyed Iran's nuclear program before we destroyed it last month? This administration is perfectly consistent with being inconsistent.

Glyptodon2• 4 months ago

The folks in charge just want what they want without rhyme or reason. Mix a mind virus and joy of power together and get your eratic clown show. And many times it can go on a lot longer than you'd ever guess.

Unfortunately as a society we keep moving further and further away from the foundations of a functional society based on a representative government and considering the general welfare.

linkjuice4all• 4 months ago

The rhyme and the reason are pretty much this:

- I was able to make money off of this

- This pissed off the people I don’t like

None of this should come as a surprise. The scoundrels got the mob in power (again) and they’re just going to keep breaking things and stealing the money until stopped or dead.

unethical_ban2• 4 months ago

The optimist in me thinks we will pivot from this dark timeline in 10-20 years. That even if we face violent internal strife, we will come out of this dark timeline eventually. Even the threat of omniscient AI surveillance is too much against the will of a free society.

I hope.

steve-atx-7600• 4 months ago

That’s not the point. The point is if you lose a presidential election to a grifter, most folks are screwed in almost unlimited ways. Don’t lose an election to a grifter. Be more practical when it comes to not losing an election to a grifter next time.

atmavatar• 4 months ago

The way you phrase all that underscores the real problem: no one holds the Republican party accountable for their actions. It's the Democrats' responsibility to save us from them, and when the public screws up and grants power to the Republicans again, it's the Democrats' fault and not those who voted in the goons who come in and break things.

The Democrats are hardly perfect, and I wish we had something better to oppose the Republicans, but let's at least acknowledge who the real villain is.

chao-• 4 months ago

I'm not sure about all wind energy, but offshore wind energy has been set aside because Donald Trump's Scotland Golf Club lost a lawsuit to an offshore wind farm a decade ago, and he appears to have a blanket opposition to the concept ever since.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Golf_Club_...

(personal commentary/context: I want more energy production of any economically viable category: wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal, natural gas, etc. I have no blanket opposition to offshore oil drilling or offshore wind energy)

pseudohadamard• 4 months ago

"National security issue" is the root password to the constitution and the rule of law. It'll get used whenever someone wants to bypass either or both.

xnx• 4 months ago

Reminder that cats and buildings kill more birds than windmills.

arjie• 4 months ago

The thing says they can now dispose of trash and do loud things in the Gulf of Mexico (America haha). But what does that actually get us?

Googling and LLMing around it allows normal sea operations in the Gulf so drilling is possible etc. Interesting. So they’re going to try to get more oil out of there?

Can’t say I trust their competence very much here. It’s more likely to be a carve out for a friend than anything else and I’m pretty pro deregulation in general.

beerandt2• 4 months ago

This is more preemptive I suspect- 'they' have been reclassifying different species trying to get a bona-fide Gulf endangered one to use against exploration and production. Especially that one whale subspecies.

This kills that on multiple fronts.

ZeroGravitas• 4 months ago

I guess the whole Whales killed by wind turbines thing turned out to be concern trolling then. What a surprise!

Fact-checking Donald Trump's claim that wind turbines kill whales

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66928305

renewiltord• 4 months ago

The snail darter play. Makes sense.

coliveira• 4 months ago

The goal for these companies is not to extract more oil. This is the bait. They want to produce the same amount of oil they already do, but pay less for the expenses of doing anything to comply with regulations.

pstuart• 4 months ago

But what does that actually get us?

Who said anything about "us". Every action taken by this administration is specifically for self-enrichment (directly or to cronies/patrons), the destruction of things that they deem "woke", and the punishment and persecution of their perceived enemies and non-humans.

I wish that was hyperbole, and that I could be proven wrong.

0xbadcafebee4• 4 months ago

2028: "To be secure as a nation we need to stamp out all dissent against the government and require all citizens to swear unyielding loyalty to the President."

kingkawn• 4 months ago

This is 100% coming barring a mass political rising

creationcomplex2• 4 months ago

Start a war. Call dissent treason. Crush the left.

Capitalism falls back to fascism to protect wealth, time and time again.

wise_young_man• 4 months ago

If AI takes all the jobs and consolidation of wealth continues it’s not an unlikely outcome. No income no spending = dead economy, poverty and starvation.

What are do people do when their government and capitalism fails them?

0xbadcafebee4• 4 months ago

yep. Tried to overthrow the government once already, with no consequence, so there's no reason not to try it again. This time he's way more entrenched/powerful. He & VP have said multiple times they want to remove all govt workers who aren't "their people", which would make a 1-Party state, aka authoritarian regime. Culmination of Project 2025 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025#Allegations_of_au...).

We're going to lose Iran war, which will put more pressure on "national security" & economy. That'll dovetail into 2028 elections. So he'll start a new war, claim there are extremists at home, start martial law, refuse to leave office. When that happens, same things that happen in every authoritarian regime will start. He's said publicly he wants to jail his enemies and curtail rights like free speech and journalism. It'll be extended into more fearmongering about minority groups to galvanize the base. Those big detention camps will get a lot bigger. Economy will be in the shitter, but that's fine, just blame it on "enemies", talk about "empire", and start a world war. Draft comes back, suddenly you have a huge infantry, lots of factory workers, staffed largely by political enemies.

0xbadcafebee4• 4 months ago

Of the 13 billion barrels of oil the US produces every day, 1.5 billion (15%) comes from the gulf. Despite this being more than enough oil (we are a net-exporter of oil), we import crude oil because our refineries need a different type of crude. The extra 15% of oil we are killing the environment over is for making a profit to export to other nations. It is not for national security.

stingraycharles2• 4 months ago

Guess which nation also has this heavy type of crude oil? Venezuela, which was invaded earlier this year.

If I recall correctly, the US used to have more of this type of oil, that depleted, so now they still have all the refineries on the east coast and need to import it.

reenorap• 4 months ago

It's millions of barrels per day not billions.

0xbadcafebee4• 4 months ago

you're right, brain fart

unethical_ban2• 4 months ago

BILLION? My god, I didn't know we produced that much.

I've known for a while that our refineries are tuned to lighter "sweet crude" than what Canada or US produces, and long have I thought that a more benevolent, heavy-handed government should incentivize our domestic industry to handle our own oil for national security.

stingraycharles2• 4 months ago

From what I understand, the US currently produces more oil than any other country has ever produced.

SilverElfin• 4 months ago

Note that they also increased the limit on Ethanol. Now, E15 is legal (instead of E10), again in the interest of “national security”.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/the-feds-plan-to-start-dilutin...

orwin• 4 months ago

That's a hidden farmer's subside. It wil probably only benefit on kind of farm, the industrial one though, so I don't think electorally this is great.

gpi• 4 months ago

They called the committee god squad?

tencentshill• 4 months ago

Yes, as it is only convened when the extinction of an entire species is on the table.

bl4kers• 4 months ago

Fishermen in the gulf were already struggling. Seems like a death knell to that industry

nunez• 4 months ago

I wonder how much the current conflict with the Strait of Hormuz [^0] had to do with this terrifying decision.

[^0] https://old.reddit.com/r/energy/comments/1s8u2ho/trump_says_...

comfysocks• 4 months ago

Yes, but this is for national (midterm election) security, so we need gas prices down before November.

tsoukase• 4 months ago

Now it's evident that a Rep POTUS mainly surrenders to the military/oil regime while a Dem to the banks/funds one. Tech and movie industry usually follow and adapt to the leader.

U.S. exempts oil industry from protecting Gulf animals, for 'national security'

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