FILE – Algae floats in the water at the Maumee Bay State Park marina in Lake Erie in Oregon, Ohio, Sept. 15, 2017. Ohio’s environmental regulators will have until the end of June to finish a plan to aimed at combating toxic algae blooms that have flourished in Lake Erie since the late 1990s. The deadline is part of settlement agreement approved by a federal judge on Thursday, May 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Ohio will have until the end of June to finish a plan to aimed at combating toxic algae blooms that have flourished in Lake Erie since the late 1990s. The deadline is part of settlement agreement approved by a federal judge on Thursday. The consent decree also calls for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to either approve the plan or come up with its own if it determines the state’s proposal isn’t strong enough. The agreement brings an end to a lawsuit seeking to force mandatory pollution rules for the lake following algae outbreaks that have fouled drinking water.