The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to remove Presque Isle Bay in Erie from list of Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

If EPA approves the request, Presque Isle Bay will become the second of more than 40 locations in the Great Lakes to be taken off the list of environmentally troubled areas.

Environmental regulators began watching the bay in the early 1980s when tumors were reported on bullhead catfish and in 1991 the bay officially became the 43rd "area of concern" on the Great Lakes list.

Since then, regulators have restricted dredging which was churning up pollution from sediments on the bay's bottom and the city of Erie has made wastewater treatment changes that have cleaned up the bay. The dredging restrictions were lifted in 2007.

First Published: December 20, 2012, 2:30 p.m.