Alaskan Sea Otters Protected

As reported in E&E News today:

"The Fish and Wildlife Service released plans today to declare much of southwestern Alaska's coastline as critical habitat for sea otters, a move that environmentalists say could add regulatory hurdles to proposed oil and gas development there.

The habitat designation is part of a legal settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity, which successfully sued in 2005 to list Alaskan sea otters under the Endangered Species Act and again in 2007 to force FWS to declare critical habitat by October 2009. Studies show that species with critical habitat are twice as likely to recover as those without, the advocacy group said."