Court papers say a federal government plan to protect the endangered right whale is snarled in delays and won't likely be available for public comment until the summer.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working with state governments on the plan to protect the North Atlantic right whale, which only numbers about 400. An assistant regional administration for protected resources in a NOAA regional office wrote in federal court papers on Tuesday that "unfortunately, the state measures have taken more time to be developed than we expected."
