Mixed Bag For Environmentalist Agenda In Annapolis
WYPR
Among other things environmentalists had hoped to keep the fund for Chesapeake and Coastal Bays restoration intact, hang on to land preservation money, crack down on oyster poachers and increase requirements for solar energy.
They kept the bay restoration fund, but only by launching a concerted lobbying effort after the House and Senate made substantial cuts. A House-Senate conference committee is negotiating over the land preservation money. The Senate had eliminated the money entirely and the House agreed with the governor's plan to use bond money.
The House and Senate passed bills to revoke the licenses of commercial fishermen caught poaching oysters, but the Senate tacked on an amendment to blunt administration oyster restoration plans. That bill is in a House committee.
"The environment did get shafted this year in a number of ways."
That's Tommy Landers, an organizer for Environment Maryland. One key example, he said, was a move to divert money from an energy efficiency fund to one to assist customers with their bills.
"This energy efficiency funding creates programs that save money for consumers, that create jobs for Marylanders, that reduce pollution and lessen stress on the electricity grid. It's a win-win, win-win, no-brainer."
He said the lone bright spot was a measure to accelerate state requirements for solar energy use. That bill passed a preliminary vote in the House of Delegates this morning.
Maggie McIntosh, chair of the House Environmental Matters committee, conceded that the environmental agenda has foundered this year, but it's not the only one.
"You talk to housing advocates, you talk to environmental advocates, you talk to public safety advocates, you talk to anybody; everybody feels nailed. And it's getting nailed by the economy, and there's no other way of putting it."
She insisted that lawmakers have protected the environment.
"But any bill that came in with a fee, charged a fee and so on and so forth, we had to take a hard look at it because people today are hanging on by their fingernails in this economy."
But Kim Coble, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, worried about playing economic woes and environmental concerns against each other.
"It's unfortunate that there is this sense that there has to be a choice between a strong economy and a healthy bay. We dismiss that dichotomy completely finding that a healthy bay leads to a strong economy and a strong economy leads to a healthy bay."
At the same time, however, she said her organization trimmed its agenda this year with an eye on the economy.
"We chose to put all our energy towards the budget, feeling that with dollars as threatened as they are in these times we needed to ensure that we got as many as we could for the bay."
Still, Dru Schmidt Perkins, executive director of 1000 Friends of Maryland, said that doesn't mean environmentalists are backing down.
"Absolutely not. Coming in to an election year it's really important that the legislators who are sitting here now today work to protect all the important issues, the smart growth issues, environmental issues, historic preservation. And they have time in the next few days to do so."
They have until midnight Monday to finish.
