Great Lakes States
(3) Definitions For purposes of this section, the term— (A) “Agency” means the Environmental Protection Agency; (B) “Great Lakes” means Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron (including Lake St. Clair), Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior, and the connecting channels (Saint Mary’s River, Saint Clair River, Detroit River, Niagara River, and Saint Lawrence River to the Canadian Border); (C) “Great Lakes System” means all the streams, rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water within the drainage basin of the Great Lakes; (D) “Program Office” means the Great Lakes National Program Office established by this section; (E) “Research Office” means the Great Lakes Research Office established by subsection (d); (F) “area of concern” means a geographic area located within the Great Lakes, in which beneficial uses are impaired and which has been officially designated as such under Annex 2 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; (G) “Great Lakes States” means the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; (H) “Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement” means the bilateral agreement, between the United States and Canada which was signed in 1978 and amended by the Protocol of 1987; (I) “Lakewide Management Plan” means a written document which embodies a systematic and comprehensive ecosystem approach to restoring and protecting the beneficial uses of the open waters of each of the Great Lakes, in accordance with article VI and Annex 2 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; (J) “Remedial Action Plan” means a written document which embodies a systematic and comprehensive ecosystem approach to restoring and protecting the beneficial uses of areas of concern, in accordance with article VI and Annex 2 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; (K) “site characterization” means a process for monitoring and evaluating the nature and extent of sediment contamination in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidance for the assessment of contaminated sediment in an area of concern located wholly or partially within the United States; and (L) “potentially responsible party” means an individual or entity that may be liable under any Federal or State authority that is being used or may be used to facilitate the cleanup and protection of the Great Lakes.