BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) – Indiana University scientists who've been tracking levels of the toxic airborne chemicals that enter the Great Lakes for two decades have won a $6 million federal grant to continue their work.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant will fund the project until 2019.

That monitoring project began in 1990 under an agreement between the EPA and Environment Canada. IU has been in charge of the study's U.S. portion since 1994.

Distinguished IU Professor Ronald Hites is overseeing the monitoring with the help of two assistant scientists at IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

He says the grant will allow IU to provide important trend data on toxic chemicals including flame retardants and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs – that enter the five Great Lakes through the atmosphere.