KPAX: Tester explains wolf de-listing measure in budget bill
Montana Senator Jon Tester says the proposal to take wolves off the Endangered Species List is “what’s right for Montana and the West.”
Tester, and Republican Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho have inserted the language into the budget bill being hashed out in Congress. The measure would not only lift ESA protection for wolves in Montana and Idaho, but would bar the federal courts from overturning that position.
The legislation would help to implement the settlement agreement worked out last month between the states, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and some, but not all, of the conservation groups that have been fighting with the government agencies over wolf protection. Wolf management would be turned over to the states with federal oversight.
Tester says the bi-partisan approach is best for coming up with a permanent solution to the wolf management problem.
