Meet the God Squad

The future of endangered species protections in the Gulf of Mexico hinges on the so-called "God Squad." Not familiar with the group? That's not surprising; it's a committee of US executive branch officials that hasn't met in 35 years.

Today's newsletter gets you up to speed on the unusual meeting scheduled for tomorrow and the high-stakes question that Trump administration officials are meeting to discuss. Plus, California's snowpack is ominously low after a prolonged western heat wave.

The highest power

By Zahra Hirji

In an executive order on his first day back in office, President Donald Trump directed an obscure panel of senior federal agency leaders called the Endangered Species Committee to start meeting regularly. The committee has the power to override certain legal protections for endangered species put at high risk by proposed industrial projects. In other words, it has the power to effectively condemn a species to extinction, earning the group a nickname: the God Squad.

More than a year into Trump's second term, that committee is finally set to meet for the first time on March 31 after a legal challenge failed to stop it. It will be the first such convening in almost 35 years.

Photographer: Tom Pennington/Getty Images/Getty Images North America

In its announcement of the meeting, the administration said the God Squad would consider exempting endangered species protections for oil and gas exploration, development and production in the Gulf of Mexico. The administration later clarified in a legal filing that it is seeking an exemption "for reasons of national security."

The government has never sought an exemption for this reason before, and it appears to be bypassing the process that normally precedes the God Squad's convening, experts say. Environmental groups say fewer restrictions on oil operations in the Gulf could threaten the critically endangered Rice's whale. Here's what to know.

Who is on the committee?

The God Squad has six permanent members as outlined in the Endangered Species Act. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is the current committee chair. Other members include Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, the Council of Economic Advisers' Acting Chair Pierre Yared, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Neil Jacobs.

Why is the committee convening now?

In a March 25 legal filing, the Trump administration said it is seeking broad Endangered Species Act exemptions for Gulf oil and gas exploration and development activities, citing "reasons of national security" identified by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The filing coincides with the administration's efforts to expand the global oil supply following the outbreak of the Iran war, which has disrupted oil and gas markets.

Issuing a broad exemption under the auspices of a national security determination is an unprecedented use of the group's authority, according to Patrick Parenteau, an emeritus professor at Vermont Law who defended the endangered species in every prior case before the committee.

Has the God Squad been used before?

Since it was established, the committee has only met a few times and granted exemptions just twice. The first time was in 1979. The committee unanimously granted an exemption to construct a dam and reservoir in Wyoming, even though it threatened the downstream habitat of whooping cranes. But crucially, the exemption included measures designed to help reduce the impact on the whooping cranes, explained Parenteau, who helped secure the protections.

The last time was in 1992, when the Bureau of Land Management requested a series of timber sales in Oregon be exempt despite threatening the northern spotted owl. The God Squad ultimately granted exemptions for 13 out of 41 proposed sales.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered discovery on the case to look into whether President George H.W. Bush's administration improperly pressured committee members to approve the exemptions, according to Parenteau. Before the judicial process was resolved, however, Bill Clinton was elected president. His administration withdrew the exemptions before any timber sales. Even so, spotted owls remain threatened today.

Read the full story, including how the committee works to reach a decision. To get the latest on the Trump administration's push to expand fossil fuel production, subscribe to Bloomberg News.

Oil interests

Fighting words

Weather Watch

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

By Brian K Sullivan

On the eve of its critical April 1 snowpack measurement, California finds itself with a problem: too much dirt and not enough snow in its mountains.

While winter storms have delivered above-average precipitation to the state, most of it fell as rain. That rain-filled lakes and reservoirs, yet failed to build the snowpack California depends on to balance its water resources through the dry months. April 1 typically marks the seasonal peak, when officials measure frozen reserves to gauge how much runoff will be available after the wet season ends.

"April 1 is a big day for us, it is typically when we would expect the snow melt after that," said David Rizzardo, an engineer and hydrology manager at the California Department of Water Resources.

This year, the peak came on Feb 21. Snowpack has declined steadily since, dipping to levels more typical of late May, Rizzardo said. While April 1 levels are unlikely to match the record lows of 2015 that came during California's last big multi-year drought, "we are going to get close to that."

Unusually warm conditions have played a central role. Parts of Southern California saw a record warm winter, while the state overall experienced its second warmest in 131 years. Temperatures surged with some areas reaching 90F (32C) or higher in March, accelerating the melt, David Simeral of the Western Regional Climate Center said in an online briefing.

"Brutal heat waves and drought are not just a summertime concern anymore," said Jennifer Francis, a research scientist with the Woodwell Climate Research Center. "Record-breaking March temperatures continue to plague much of the US, especially the western states where mountain snowpacks are desperately low and shrinking."

Subscribe to the weekly Weather Watch newsletter to get extreme weather news from reporters around the world.

More from Green

Photographer: Andrew Baker/Bloomberg

Thanks to some well-timed energy transition bets, a number of private capital funds are managing to defy the latest wave of headline-grabbing markdowns.

Fund managers at firms including Brookfield Asset Management, Eurazeo SE and Tikehau Capital say they've been riding out the panic that's gripped other corners of the private credit and equity markets. And they've been doing it by tapping into assets that address growing energy-security needs, and that aren't about to be made obsolete by artificial intelligence.

Natalie Adomait, chief operating officer for Brookfield's energy group, says investors need to be aware of the split that's emerged between the performance of private capital funds devoted to energy-transition assets and those exposed to the software sector.

"What we're seeing on the ground, it's honestly never been better than it is today," she said. And the "noise" surrounding private capital's exposure to software companies is "far afield from what we do, which is very hard asset-backed and contract-backed."

Read the full story.

The EU carbon market is scaling back expectations for how aggressive government intervention will be as Brussels looks to ease energy-cost burdens for the region's ailing heavy industry.

Heavy flooding in Russia's North Caucasus had left as many as half a million people without power. The flooding, described by local media as the worst in more than 100 years, caused severe damage in Makhachkala, the capital of the Dagestan region.

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