Persuading lawmakers to appropriate $50 million annually for the Chesapeake Bay represented a major triumph for Bay advocates.
But the legislation for the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund included scant detail on where the money would be spent and how it would be administered.
Now activists face their next challenge: Lobbying for legislation to ensure the money isn?t wasted.
“That needs to be clarified,” said Kim Coble, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The legislation only included a “loose description” of how it should be spent, she said.
Coble, speaking at a Chesapeake Bay Commission meeting Thursday, said that clarification would be the primary focus for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Maryland?s 2008 legislative session, which starts Wednesday.
During the special session in November, the House passed a measure outlining how the $50 million would be administered, but the measure didn?t make it through the Senate, said Cindy Schwartz, executive director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters.
“We were fine with that,” she said. “We felt like the hardest part was getting the dedicated funds.”
Del. Maggie McIntosh, Democratic chair of the House?s Environmental Matters Committee who championed the fund, said she would likely reintroduce this measure during the upcoming session, with only minor changes from its original form.
The measure would rely on BayStat, which monitors Bay cleanup programs, and an advisory group to determine how to spend the trust, which draws funds from the state?s car rental and gasoline taxes for nutrient pollution reduction.
During the special session, there wasn?t enough time or focus on the Senate side to get the policy piece of the trust fund passed, McIntosh said.
The legislature shouldn?t enumerate which programs should receive funding, because the Bay?s needs change year to year, said Sen. Brian Frosh, D-District 13, a member of the Chesapeake Bay Commission.
“It should be flexible,” he said.
Dedicated funding to reduce pollution from agricultural runoff and stormwater management could turn the tide in the declining health of the Bay, said Will Baker, Chesapeake Bay Foundation president.
“Those are two areas not adequately addressed to date,” Baker said, adding that point-source pollution such as wastewater treatment has been the main focus for funding.
“In Maryland, we could look forward to better water quality,” he said.
