White House suspends action on gray wolf delisting

The Obama Administration has frozen the Department of Interior effort to take gray wolves off the list of animals protected under the Endangered Species Act in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes regions. In a memorandum issued Tuesday to federal department heads, Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, wrote that no proposed or final regulations should be sent to the Federal Register for publication until they have been reviewed and approved by new agency heads appointed by the president. Emanuel added that all regulations sent to the Federal Register, but not yet published, also should be withdrawn for review and approval. Last week, the Department of Interior, which oversees endangered species, had said it expected to delist gray wolves after publishing a new rule in the Federal Register this week. That rule hadn’t been published as of Wednesday, which means it falls under Emanuel’s memo. Hugh Vickery, an Interior spokesman, said he wasn’t sure why the publication had been delayed, although he noted it often takes a few days for the paperwork to go through. Both Monday and Tuesday were federal holidays, which could have slowed the process. Vickery said that after the review, the proposal could go forward as proposed now; it could go forward with some modifications; or it might not go forward at all....