CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Legislation introduced in Congress would expand the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act and authorize $415 million over eight years to combat the worst environmental threats to the Sierra Nevada lake and surrounding basin.

Congressional delegations from Nevada and California submitted companion bills in the Senate and House.

Lake Tahoe environmental regulators have outlined $2.5 billion in environmental improvement projects for the next 10 years.

In 1997 Sen. Harry Reid organized the first annual Tahoe Summit attended by President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. He said the latest bill extends a commitment to restore the ecological health of the Tahoe Basin that straddles the Nevada-California line.

The new bill would continue water quality and fire reduction projects and combat invasive species that could drastically alter the lake's ecosystem and irreversibly cloud its famed clarity.