ELR Citation: ELR 20165
No(s). 07-5179 (D.C. Cir. Jul 8, 2008)

The D.C. Circuit upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's denial of a petition to list the westslope cutthroat trout as a threatened species based on its interbreeding with other trout species. Environmental groups argued that the government's decision not to list the species was arbitrary and capricious because the agency included in its count of westslope cutthroat trout hybridized fish, which embodied the menace at issue. Although new data might require a future listing of the fish as threatened, the agency engaged in reasoned decisionmaking based on the best available science. Nor did the district court abuse its discretion in refusing to supplement the record.

[A prior decision in this litigation can be found at 32 ELR 20548.]