Salazar blasts Wyoming U.S. Rep. Lummis' no-sue rider on wolf deal

CHEYENNE -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar spoke out today against a proposed congressional budget rider prohibiting legal challenges to any agreement delisting wolves in Wyoming.

U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., helped insert the rider into a 2012 congressional appropriations bill on July 6, a day before Salazar and Gov. Matt Mead announced they had agreed to a deal "in principle" to remove the state's roughly 340 wolves from the endangered species list within the next few months and put them under state control.

Mead and other state officials have repeatedly said that if an agreement is reached between Wyoming and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Congress needs to protect the deal against lawsuits from environmental groups and others.

But in prepared remarks for a speech at the "Conserving the Future" Conference in Madison, Wis., today, Salazar called Lummis' wolf rider "problematic" and "unnecessary."

He also lashed out at other provisions inserted into the appropriations bill, including proposals to block the secretary of the interior from withdrawing public lands near Grand Canyon National Park from future mining claims and stripping the Fish and Wildlife Service of its ability to protect threatened species.

It's uncertain, however, how much the Obama admnistration will fight Lummis' rider. The administration didn't oppose a similar "no-litigation" clause inserted by Montana's two Democratic U.S. senators into a must-pass budget bill in April that delisted wolves in five Western states.

During a media conference with Mead on July 7, Salazar waved off a question about whether he opposed Lummis' rider. That concerned several environmental groups, which worried it was a sign that the Obama administration was giving tacit support to a no-litigation clause for Wyoming wolves.

Several environmental groups and congressional observers have said they expect Lummis' rider to pass the Republican-controlled House, but it's uncertain how the proposal will fare in the Senate, which is controlled by the Democrats.