White House panel on oceans visits Great Lakes

A White House panel developing a strategy for managing oceans and their coastlines is including the Great Lakes in its plan, which will propose ways to protect the environment while preventing conflicts among users.

The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, which President Barack Obama established in June, convenes the last of six regional public meetings Thursday in Cleveland. It will be the only gathering devoted specifically to the Great Lakes.

"We understand that there are some challenges that the Great Lakes are facing that are very similar to challenges along the oceans," Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the task force and the White House Council …