FOIA documents detail outreach from advocacy groups seeking policy influence as legal battles over energy projects intensify.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Newly obtained emails show environmental advocacy groups urged officials in former President Joe Biden’s administration to incorporate climate change considerations into enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, as legal disputes over energy policy continue to unfold.
According to a report in Just the News, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Protect the Public’s Trust show that outside groups sought to influence how the law would be applied.
The developments come amid a separate legal challenge involving the Endangered Species Committee, which recently voted to exempt certain oil and gas drilling activities in the Gulf of America from the Endangered Species Act. That decision prompted environmental organizations, represented by Earthjustice, to file a lawsuit in federal court challenging the exemption.
The Interior Department describes the Endangered Species Committee as a high-level body created to resolve rare conflicts between federal actions and species protections when no alternatives exist. The committee’s recent vote has drawn scrutiny from environmental groups, which argue the exemption threatens protected marine species.
Emails reviewed in the FOIA release show that advocacy organizations, including the Center for Biological Diversity, contacted political appointees across agencies such as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service. In one outreach, the group requested a meeting to discuss “climate consultation” under the Endangered Species Act, proposing a framework to incorporate greenhouse gas considerations into regulatory decisions.
“These ‘climate consultations’ were well aligned with then-President Joe Biden’s ‘whole of government’ approach to address the ‘climate crisis,’” wrote Brett Hartl, a representative of the Center for Biological Diversity, in a communication to officials.
The correspondence also indicated a preference for engaging directly with political appointees rather than career staff. In one message, Hartl wrote that the group lacked confidence that certain agency personnel would support the proposed policy direction, stating, “Frankly, we do not have confidence that upper-level management within the career staff at the Fish and Wildlife Service believe that the Endangered Species Act can be useful in the fight against climate change.”
According to Michael Chamberlain, the findings align with expectations about collaboration between advocacy groups and administration officials. “We certainly suspected the Biden administration officials were working with some of the environmental and other activist organizations,” Chamberlain said. “We’ve seen that throughout the course of the administration. And so that was definitely something that we had expected to find.”
Additional outreach came from the Harvard Law School Animal Law and Policy Program, which urged the administration to incorporate climate considerations into species protection policies. In correspondence sent shortly after Biden took office, program representatives described climate change as a driving factor behind what they called a “mass extinction event” and outlined legal arguments for expanding the scope of the Endangered Species Act.
The communications referenced past federal guidance that excluded greenhouse gas emissions from consideration in ESA implementation and advocated for changes to that approach. Among the signatories was climate scientist Michael Mann, who was referenced in connection with separate litigation addressed in a Just the News report.
Despite the outreach, it is not clear whether the requested meetings with political appointees occurred. In 2024, the Biden administration finalized revisions to ESA regulations, which prompted criticism from the Center for Biological Diversity in a statement indicating the changes did not significantly depart from prior policy.
The broader dispute also highlights tensions over how environmental laws apply to different energy sectors. Advocacy groups have argued that oil and gas projects pose risks to endangered species, including the Rice’s whale population in the Gulf, while critics have pointed to differing standards applied to renewable energy developments such as offshore wind.
Projects involving offshore wind are required to obtain permits addressing potential impacts on marine life, including incidental harassment authorization, which allows certain activities that may affect protected species under regulated conditions.
Environmental groups challenging the recent exemption argue the committee failed to demonstrate that legal challenges to fossil fuel projects threaten national energy security. The complaint states that the Gulf region is home to numerous protected species, including the Rice’s whale, whose population is estimated at approximately 50 individuals.
The case is expected to determine how the Endangered Species Act will be applied to energy development moving forward, as courts weigh competing claims involving environmental protection, regulatory authority and energy policy.
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