Program to boost Great Lakes cleanup research

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan is establishing a research program designed to make sure the federal government bases decisions in its billion-dollar battle to clean up the Great Lakes on solid science, officials said Tuesday.

Shortly after President Barack Obama took office in 2009, his administration kicked off the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to begin solving problems that experts said were seriously degrading the system containing nearly one-fifth of the world’s surface fresh water. Among them: invasive species such as zebra and quagga mussels, toxic pollution, runoff that causes harmful algae blooms, and shrinking wildlife habitat.