Big news coming Thursday for the Presque Isle Bay. For the first time in over 20years, the bay is now off the list of Areas of Concern. Its only the second area in the United States to be removed from the list of heavily contaminated Great Lake sites.
The removal from the list means the bay's environmental conditions are now consistent with the rest of Lake Erie.
In 1991, Presque Isle bay was placed on the list of areas of concern, mainly out of concern from the community. Some of the reasons it was listed was for things like fish tumors and pollution in sediment.
There are some, though, believed that the delisting would cause the bay to revert back to the way it was. Ed Kissel, Vice President of the S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie, was concerned about delisting the bay too soon.
Kissel said the Erie County Health Department and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission objected this decision, saying it was just too soon to remove it.
"A lot was learned, a lot was done, but a lot of fish surveys are not done," said Kissel. "The public needs to be benefited best. We just want to make sure all the studies are done."
Kissel said those studies are expected to be done sometime this spring. In the meantime, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will continue to monitor the bay, along with help from the EPA.
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