The Clean Air Act dodged a bullet in last night's budget agreement when GOP-sponsored riders to the budget were removed from the final agreement. However, the Endangered Species Act wasn't so lucky. Now wolves will be dodging bullets - literally, as the budget gives the northern Rocky Mountain states the right to delist the wolf.
Many Americans love the idea of wolves free to roam around the northern Rocky Mountain states. Many ranchers in the northern Rocky Mountain states hate the idea of wolves free to roam around their land, and politicians in their home states listen to them. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) attached a rider to a Senate appropriations bill delisting the wolf from the Endangered Species Act, with the approval of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. And that rider has stayed in last night's budget deal: wolf delisting pending, reports the AP.
Call it the Inconvenient Species.