Motivated by ongoing litigation, two Washington congressmen have stepped up their effort to streamline Marine Mammal Protection Act processes for allowing the removal of sea lions that prey on federally protected salmon runs.

Reps. Brian Baird (D-WA) and Doc Hastings (R-WA) on April 7 fired off a letter urging the House Natural Resources Committee to take "immediate action" on a bill they authored to solve a particular sea lion-salmon interaction problem.

The states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington sought and in March won authority under existing MMPA provisions to lethally remove specific California sea lions preying on salmon at the base of the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam.

The Humane Society of the United States on March 24 filed a complaint that alleges NOAA Fisheries' decision to allow lethal removal of the pinnipeds violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

On March 28 the HSUS asked the court of enjoin the decision – which would effectively stop immediate implementation of the sea lion removal plan -- while the lawsuit is debated. U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman on Wednesday denied the injunction, but the lawsuit goes on.

"Because of this lawsuit, we're in imminent danger of losing yet another opportunity to save endangered salmon at Bonneville Dam and our bill would quickly get recovery efforts back on track," the lawmakers say.

Under the existing process, states applied to the federal government for the authority to lethally remove the most aggressive sea lions in 2006. Baird and Hastings point out that it took nearly two years to get through the approval process.

In their letter Baird and Hastings note that the existing MMPA process has only been triggered one other time, in 1994 by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at Seattle's Ballard Locks. Litigation there stalled implementation of lethal removal.

"The court ultimately found in favor of NOAA Fisheries," the letter said. "However, by then, the Lake Washington winter steelhead run had continued to decline, eventually reaching non-viable levels."

The congressmen describe the high value of salmon to the Northwest economy, environment and culture and say there is a need to "provide the states and tribes with the tools that they need to protect endangered salmon."

Their bill, first introduced in 2006, would give states and tribes immediate authority to manage the sea lion predation, while ensuring that any sea lion removal is targeted and doesn't impact the stability of the overall sea lion population.

"In light of the unfair and unnecessary delay caused by the Humane Society's lawsuit, it is our hope that the Committee will immediately consider the Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act and bring it up for a vote," the lawmakers wrote in the letter to Natural Resource Committee chairman and ranking member.

The lawmakers said the lawsuit could well "delay action for several years" and result in "the death of thousands and thousands of endangered and threatened Pacific salmon."

Mosman's decision does not affect the lawsuit, though it will likely allow the removal of some California sea lions from the river in the coming weeks.

"There's still a lawsuit so we still need to find a resolution," Hastings' press secretary Will Marlow said.

The California sea lions have become a growing presence at the dam in recent years. Historically, few of the marine mammals were observed at the dam. Fishery officials believe that the pinnipeds, which forage north along the coast in winter, took notice of huge spring chinook salmon runs returning to the Columbia early this decade and followed them upriver. Remembering the bounty, many of the sea lions return each year.

The Endangered Species Predation Prevention Act would amend the MMPA authorize the Secretary of Commerce to issue one-year permits for the lethal taking of California sea lions if it is determined that alternative measures to reduce sea lion predation on threatened or endangered salmonid stocks in the Columbia River do not adequately protect the salmonid stocks from such predation. It would require the secretary to respond within 90 days to lethal removal requests.

A Hastings spokeman said that, as of Thursday, no response from committee leaders had been received.

The Library of Congress online bill tracking system lists the last major action on the bill as subcommittee hearings held in August 2007.