The report presents a statement of concerns and suggested research by the Lake Michigan Cooling Water Studies Panel. The intent of the statement is to assist the development of investigations of the effects of cooling water use on Lake Michigan. The introductory considerations of Lake Michigan are presented in the first section. The second section presents recommendations toward objective quantification of the effects of cooling water use through proper statistical planning, study design, and data collection. The remaining seven sections relate information the authors consider basic to an understanding of the effects of cooling use on physical and chemical aspects, primary producer and consumer communities, macrozoobenthos, fishery, entrapped and entrained organisms, and radioecology of Lake Michigan. All sections of the report attempt to produce improvement in research design and a trend toward standardization of results. In addition, questions are posed and ranked resulting in numerical priorities with the intent to guide research in those areas of knowledge which are barriers to an adequate understanding of the effects of cooling water use.