Obama Announces Great Lakes Restoration Plan ANN ARBOR, MI (Associated Press) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to create a five-billion dollar trust fund to protect and restore the Great Lakes. Obama released a five-point plan for Great Lakes restoration today that includes creating the fund over a 10 year period. The money would come from rolling back tax breaks for oil and gas companies.

Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow likes the plan. She says it's similar to a plan created by President Bush, but never funded.

"What we are seeing through this plan is actually putting the dollars into a trust fund so that the dollars would be there and we could actually implement these strategies, these plans, that have been in place now for years," Stabenow said.

The Obama plan would also create a zero tolerance policy for invasive species and name a Great Lakes czar to coordinate existing federal programs. Republican spokeswoman Sarah Lenti says John McCain agrees that Great Lakes restoration is a priority, but is not going to commit to a specific dollar amount. © Copyright 2009, Associated Press