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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2001

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered Secretary of Interior Gale Norton to reconsider listing the flat-tailed horned lizard as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the government's decision not to list the species was "abitrary and capricious." Former Secretary Bruce Babbitt made the decision not to list the lizard, which lives in southwestern Arizona and parts of Southern California, in July 1997.

In deciding whether a species is threatened or endangered, the court said the Interior may consider populations on private as well as public land.

Get the Case:
DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE v. NORTON, No 99-56362 (9th Cir. July 31, 2001)

Get the Story:
Federal court orders Interior secretary to reconsider lizard for protection (AP 7/31)