For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Pier Lewis, in for Rachel Feldman.

You're listening to our weekly science news roundup.

First, a quick update on NASA's moon mission, which lifted off last week. Last Thursday, Artemis II left Earth orbit, making the four astronauts on board the first humans in over 50 years to do so.

And today is a critical day for the mission, as it plans to execute a historic lunar flyby and go farther from Earth than any human ever has.

In environmental news, last Tuesday, the Endangered Species Committee exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act, or the ESA, despite widespread consensus that it could lead to some species going extinct.

The last time the committee met was in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush. Back then, members voted to exempt logging in the habitat of Oregon's northern spotted owl,

a bird that is under threat of extinction.

That request, however, was ultimately withdrawn.

This time, the committee convened at the request of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegesa.

The Defense Secretary said the move was necessary for national security in light of ongoing lawsuits.

This pending litigation in district courts seeks to stop Gulf oil and gas activities

rather than allowing the integration of oil and gas production

with responsible endangered species protections.

Heggseth didn't specify which lawsuits he was referring to.

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, between 2018 and

2023, the U.S. produced more crude oil than any other country in the world. Nationwide, the U.S. produced more crude oil than any other country in the world.

Nationwide, the U.S. produced more crude oil in 2025 than it ever has.

And a March forecast by the EIA says a nation is on track to do about the same this year.

The Gulf of Mexico is already one of the nation's top oil-producing regions, generating

some 80 million gallons of oil per day, or enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool

roughly 120 times.

This accounts for nearly 15% of the annual crude oil production in the U.S.

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