September 2, 2023 — U.S. House Republicans are preparing to investigate a recent court settlement that pits one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals against potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues and thousands of jobs for Louisiana.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said President Joe Biden’s administration created the confrontation by using the settlement of a federal lawsuit in Maryland to circumvent time-consuming environmental regulatory procedures.
The Aug. 23 deal expands the protected Gulf of Mexico habitat of Rice’s whales — the only indigenous whale in American waters.
Only about 100 Rice’s whales exist, mostly off Florida’s coast, where there is little oil and gas activity. Recently, sonar findings, a confirmed sighting in 2017 and an unconfirmed sighting in July indicate that the whales — which measure about 40 feet long and weigh about 60,000 pounds — may also live off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, where there is far more energy activity.