Congress removes wolf 'no lawsuit' rider from bill, Lummis blames environmentalists

Congress has dropped language that would have barred lawsuits over a proposal to end federal protections for wolves in Wyoming. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican and Wyoming's lone voice in the U.S. House, had sponsored the language as a rider to a spending bill. Congress already passed similar language blocking lawsuits over delisting of wolves in other Western states. The ban on lawsuits could be critical to the success of a deal that Gov. Matt Mead and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reached this year over how to end federal protections for wolves in Wyoming. Lummis issued a statement on Friday claiming that radical environmentalists used what she called "their considerable sway in the White House" to remove the language. An attempt to reach her for comment on Friday was unsuccessful. AP