DULUTH - U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn. has signed onto draft legislation that a Wisconsin congressman is circulating that, if passed and signed by the president, would once again remove federal protections from wolves in the Great Lakes region and Wyoming.
Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., has sent the draft legislation to other lawmakers looking for co-authors for the bill that would order the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to re-issue the 2011 rule to remove wolves from federal protections.
The bill would especially apply to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Wyoming, where recent court decisions have reinstated federal Endangered Species Act protections for wolves.
Other representatives from Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming have signed onto the bill expected to be formally introduced as early as February, Ribble’s office said Tuesday.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is still deciding whether to appeal a federal judge’s order last month that wolves had not recovered enough of their original range to remove federal protections in the Great Lakes.
