HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is taking the first step toward designating the Pennsylvania-owned section of Lake Erie as the state’s first national marine sanctuary. A formal designation could still take several years and it wouldn’t change existing regulations around the use of the lake. Thursday’s announcement sets up a public comment period before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration writes a draft plan for the sanctuary. The designation would apply to an approximately 740-square-mile area of water off Pennsylvania’s 75 mile-long shoreline and would attract federal funding to help find and preserve shipwrecks in the water and boost education and outreach around the area’s history.