Additional funds provided by Congress for Great Lakes environmental improvements will be used to hasten cleanups of highly toxic sites and step up work on other longstanding forms of pollution, federal officials said Thursday.

The species are already listed as an endangered in multiple states including Indiana. A federal designation would mean more protections, including funding.

The House approved the measure Tuesday and sent it to the Senate, where a vote is expected later this week. It includes $320 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The Great Lakes region is the best place in the U.S. to put renewable energy sources to get the most health benefits, according to a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Storms over Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior caused beach erosion, flooding and damage to seawalls and roads.

Indiana University will use part of a nearly $6 million federal grant to monitor a chemical that polluted groundwater at military bases, including Grissom Air Reserve Base near Kokomo.

Five Democratic governors of states in the Great Lakes region Monday urged the candidates in next year's presidential election to support a plan for safeguarding their shared waters by boosting federal spending on treatment plants and environmental cleanups.

The program is part of the EPA's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. It will fund up to a dozen projects, with the largest amount set at $500,000.

The fish is an endangered species in the state, but environmentalists say it needs federal protection.

Water quality trading allows someone like a farmer to get credits for reducing runoff on their land that they can then sell to buyers like wastewater treatment plants, developers, and cities.