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If these whales go extinct, we’ll know who to blame

Just 51 of these whales are left on Earth. Trump officials may have just doomed them.

In the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico lives one of the world’s rarest and most elusive marine mammals: Rice’s whale. There are just 51 of them left, according to the most recent scientific estimates, meaning they are quite literally on the knife’s edge of extinction.

That’s why, in 2019, the federal government — then under President Donald Trump’s first term — gave these sleek marine mammals a lifeline. It listed them as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, the most powerful wildlife protection law in the country and among the strongest in the world

The law makes killing or harming the animals illegal, with some exceptions. It also requires that federal agencies, including those that approve oil and gas leases, ensure that their actions won’t threaten the existence of species with ESA protection. This was key for Rice’s whale, as the main threat they face is from the Gulf’s oil and gas industry: vessel strikes, noise from exploration, and spills.

Protecting the whale under federal law gave it a chance for survival,........

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