John Murdock's resignation from the US interior department took effect on 30 September: the attorney and self-described conservative Christian, an 18-year veteran of the agency's legal office, quit in protest at what he called a deeply troubling assault on the rule of law under Donald Trump. "We are headed in the wrong direction," he wrote in the resignation letter he first sent to his supervisor earlier this year.

In the letter, Murdock cited the glaring legal flaws he said he witnessed at the agency during the Trump administration, alongside concerns over offshore oil and gas drilling, the push to expand fossil fuels and the flouting of environmental regulation.

A conservative lawyer walks out

Murdock acknowledged he will likely pay a personal price for the decision, walking away from the stable salary and benefits of a government job, while his retirement likely becomes less lucrative and more complicated.

He described himself as one of many civil servants who have departed the government under less than ideal circumstances in recent years, and said he is willing to share his story if it helps others or in some small way assists in preserving the rule of law.

Murdock wrote that the exit also brings its own rewards:

The lease sale that triggered the exit

Murdock grew especially concerned about the actions of a top official at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, the interior department agency that oversees offshore oil and gas drilling. Last December, BOEM's acting director, Matt Giacona, appeared on stage at a gathering in New Orleans to announce the results of an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico.

In his speech, Giacona praised the Trump administration's pro-drilling agenda and claimed the administration was "upholding the highest environmental standards". Murdock wrote that hearing the claim led him to decide to resign, and that he felt an ethical obligation to highlight the glaring legal flaws he saw.

Details of the sale, known as BBG1:

• •It was mandated by Trump's One Big Beautiful Act.
• •It received bids from 30 companies, including BP, Chevron and Shell, totaling more than $370m.

Murdock also objected to this year's exemption of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas operations from Endangered Species Act protections. "Whether technically legal or not, it is a repugnant policy that I in no way support," he wrote, calling the point especially true given that the Rice's whale, one of the most imperiled marine mammal species, calls the Gulf home.

His own record inside the department included helping to clean up the mess BP made during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and he wrote that he does not want to now be part of creating an even greater disaster.

The legal fight over BBG1

Environmental groups and other critics contend the Trump administration explicitly bypassed numerous federal environmental laws while carrying out the sale, including provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. In a memo published shortly before the sale, Giacona, in coordination with the interior department's legal office, determined that NEPA, a key ESA provision and several other environmental safeguards are not applicable at the lease sale stage of BBG1 and similar sales.

Environmental groups promptly took the fight to court, filing a lawsuit challenging the legality of Giacona's actions. George Torgun, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, one of the groups involved in the ongoing lawsuits against BBG1 and similar lease sales, said the administration has no basis for exempting the massive drilling lease sales from the bedrock laws Congress passed decades ago after destructive oil spills off US coasts.

"This illegal action is a payback to oil and gas drillers," Torgun said, warning that "Gulf communities – and the marine ecosystems that we all depend on – will pay the price".

The administration pushed back in a legal filing earlier this year, arguing that because Congress mandated the sale, the agency lacked sufficient discretion to alter the scope or terms of the lease sale in ways that could affect environmental outcomes.

Wind reversals, a 'cultish' tone and the department's reply

Murdock's letter also takes aim at the administration's energy agenda and its internal messaging:

• •He protested what he described as the administration's continuing political attack on offshore wind energy, writing that an "all of the above" energy strategy has morphed into "one of the above", solely focused on fossil fuels.
• •He called recent decisions to shutter nearly complete offshore wind projects and to pay Total Energies hundreds of millions of dollars to renounce wind leases an assault on logic and the American taxpayer.
• •Earlier this year, the administration announced it would reimburse a French energy company nearly $1bn to forgo plans to build wind farms off the US east coast.
• •He denounced the weekly Inside Interior video sent to every employee's inbox, writing that the change in tone to something approaching cultish worship has been jarring; a recent edition described the fearless leadership of President Donald J. Trump, who it said reminds us everyday what true patriotism looks like as he works to make America great again.

Murdock's resignation and public comments come amid an exodus of longtime government workers and scientists from federal agencies, including the interior department, which has lost thousands of employees since Elon Musk's so-called department of government efficiency (Doge) began its controversial efforts to slash government employment last year.

An interior department spokesperson rejected the characterization, saying one former employee's personal disagreement with the department's policies does not transform lawful policy decisions into an "assault on the rule of law", and that Murdock's inflammatory rhetoric does not make his opinion accurate.

Giacona, meanwhile, departed the agency in September to go work for the oil services giant Halliburton; a request for comment sent to Halliburton received no response.

The lawsuits against the BBG1 sale and similar lease sales are ongoing, while the interior department says it stands firmly behind its work implementing President Trump's agenda consistent with federal law.