Year of the environment?

As the session winds down, fate of green bills remains up in the air

In a session struggling to find an identity in its waning days, the fate of many environmental bills remains uncertain. What happens in the next 17 days could determine whether environmental groups truly claim victory, advocates and lawmakers said.

‘‘If we get the green fund through, this will be the year of the environment,” said Del. Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Dist. 43), of Baltimore, chairwoman of the House Environmental Matters Committee.

The green fund bill would levy a surcharge on new developments that build impervious surfaces, such as paved sidewalks and parking lots. The revenue would be used to restore the Chesapeake Bay.

‘‘One very good thing is nobody, not even opponents of the green fund, nobody debates the goal,” said Kim Coble, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. ‘‘The citizens of Maryland have to let the legislature know we don’t want to wait one more year.”

A coalition of environmental groups known as the Citizens Campaign for the Environment named the green fund one of its priorities for this session.

Another priority is the clean cars act, a bill to reduce emissions on automobiles sold in Maryland by 2011. The bill has passed the House and the Senate and awaits a conference committee.

The ease with which the clean cars bill cruised through the legislature has surprised even environmental advocates, who see the legislation as a sign of an awakening among lawmakers to how urgent some environmental concerns have become.

‘‘All of a sudden, the sentiment had changed,” said Cindy Schwartz, executive director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters.

The reasons for that change, advocates and lawmakers say, range from voter concerns heard on the campaign trail to a more pro-environment governor to ‘‘An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore’s award-winning documentary on global warming.

‘‘Certainly, whether it’s the Al Gore film or the public becoming more aware of how urgent the problem of global warming is, there are bills that normally would not see the light of day moving forward in the House and the Senate,” said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach. ‘‘It’s a great thing for our children and our children’s children.”

Environmental concerns hold broad appeal because ‘‘people think about the legacy they’re leaving their children,” Schwartz said. ‘‘Republicans are no different than Democrats on the issue.”

Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus (R-Dist. 38) of Westover won points with environmental groups for defending his vote for the clean cars bill during floor debate.

‘‘Some of the things are reasonable,” Stoltzfus said Thursday. ‘‘Everything’s evolving — the legislature and the public.”

While the clean cars legislation seems sure of passage, the fate of other bills is less clear.

The House has done its part to address the environment and health care this session, said Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30), of Annapolis.

‘‘At the end of the day, we’ll have an oyster restoration act, we’ll have a clean cars act, we’ll have a Chesapeake Bay green fund,” he said. ‘‘We’ll have an environmental record I think that people can be very proud of.”

People in the House, that is.

‘‘I’m not confident they’ll all come through the Senate, but I’m confident they’ll all come through the House,” Busch said. ‘‘You try to control what you have control over.”

On Thursday, environmental groups were scrambling to unravel the effect of several amendments the House Environmental Matters Committee tacked on to the green fund bill Wednesday.

‘‘Some legislators, in particular in the Senate, feel, ‘This is a revenue bill, therefore we’re not going to work on it this year,’” Coble said.

Miller said he has not taken a close look at the green fund legislation.

‘‘Not a chance,” was how Stoltzfus assessed the odds of the bill clearing the Senate.

Environmental issues are not going away and will not recede as the Assembly turns its attention to a $1.5 billion budget deficit that promises to dominate future sessions, legislators said.

‘‘We have a huge deficit now,” Stoltzfus said. ‘‘Unfortunately, nobody’s paying any attention to it.”

The urgency to pass environmental measures now stems from a federal deadline to clean up the Bay by 2010 and a fear that the longer pollution is allowed to accumulate, the more difficult it will be to reverse its effects, advocates said.

‘‘It’s not the year it has to happen, but I do think next year will be dominated by other issues,” McIntosh said. ‘‘That’s why I support getting the Chesapeake Bay green fund done this year.”