BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in Vermont on Thursday that his agency will double the pace of spending on efforts to reduce farm runoff entering Lake Champlain.

Vilsack, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch, both Vermont Democrats, announced that the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will provide about $45 million to address a problem seen as a big contributor to the blue-green algae blooms that have clogged parts of the lake in recent years.