GOP budget bill lifts wolf protections

A Republican budget bill would strip gray wolves of Endangered Species Act protections across most of the Northern Rockies. A provision tucked into the continuing budget resolution directs Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to reissue a 2009 rule that took wolves off the endangered list in Montana, Idaho and parts of Oregon, Washington and Utah. Two prior attempts to lift protections for Northern Rockies' wolves were reversed by a federal judge in Montana. The measure introduced Friday shields the Interior Department from court challenge...more