Last month, a panel of Trump administration officials voted unanimously to exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from measures to protect endangered whales and other imperiled species. Conservation groups have sued to try to overturn the move.
Bracewell’s Seth Barsky told The New York Times it was difficult to predict the outcome of the litigation because no previous administration had ever invoked national security to override a landmark environmental law, the Endangered Species Act.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” Barsky said.
