Ellen R. Sauerbrey has a 12-point environmental plan and a seven-point Clean Water Action plan. Protecting natural resources and the Chesapeake Bay is one of the highest priorities she identifies in her six-point economic program.
But the likely Republican gubernatorial candidate's proposals aren't gaining her many points with environmental advocates, many of whom refer to her derisively as "Ellen Sour-Bay."
The "greens" are lining up squarely behind Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who delivered a key item on their wish list last week as he struck a $25 million deal to save from development 1,850 acres of prime forest land at Chapman's Landing in Charles County.
Environmental groups say Sauerbrey's election-year promises cannot erase a 20-year record of opposing virtually every significant legislative effort to clean up Maryland's air and water. They dismiss the environmental program posted on her campaign's Web site as a compilation of unrealistic promises, contradictions of her own record and "weasel words."
Meanwhile, they point to her leadership role in a national organization that bills itself as "the antithesis of the Sierra Club" as evidence of her hostility to environmental goals.
If Sauerbrey has a weak spot in what otherwise appears to be a smooth-running campaign to oust Glendening, it could be the environment.
"You would have to put Maryland high on the list of states that have a value system of trying to protect the environment," said Keith Haller, president of Potomac Survey Research. "Sauerbrey clearly vulnerable in terms of her overall environmental record."
Recent polling by Haller's firm shows that when Maryland voters are asked to name the most important problem facing Maryland today, only 5 percent say the environment. But he said the issue carries considerable weight in such key jurisdictions as Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Howard counties.
"In my view, it was the contrast between Ellen Sauerbrey's record on environmental issues and Parris Glendening's commitment on environmental issues that made the difference in 1994," said Del. Leon G. Billings, a Montgomery County Democrat.
The contrast is stark.
While the governor got off to a shaky start with environmental advocates, his record has become progressively greener.
Last year, Glendening's successful advocacy of "Smart Growth" legislation to curb sprawling development won him national recognition. His fight this year for a strong water-quality bill in response to toxic Pfiesteria outbreaks earned him praise from environmentalists even though he had to accept a weakened bill.
By dropping his support for a large highway through northern Montgomery County called the Inter-County Connector (ICC), he removed a long-standing irritant in his relations with conservationists.
"You can legitimately say Parris Glendening is one of the most pro-environment, pro-public health governors in the country," said Daniel J. Weiss, political director of the Sierra Club in Washington.
Those accolades come with a cost, however. Glendening's green policies have prompted some prominent business executives to contribute generously to the Sauerbrey campaign. They include Eastern Shore chicken magnate Frank Perdue, whose family anted up more than $30,000 to oust the governor after Glendening's anti-Pfiesteria initiative provoked his wrath.
While Sauerbrey will undoubtedly benefit financially from businesses' anger at Glendening, she will also be challenged to explain a record that leading environmental groups consider dismal.
During her 16-year career representing Baltimore County in the House of Delegates, Sauerbrey's record -- as measured by the Maryland League of Conservation Voters -- went from bad to worse. She started with a pro-environment score of just 33 percent during her first four-year term, 1979-1982, and followed that with scores of 22, 14 and 10.
Over that period, environmentalists say, she voted against or was absent on their most important bills, including a 1985 phosphate ban that is widely credited with reducing nutrient pollution in the bay.
Among many others, they also cite a 1979 vote against vehicle emissions testing, and 1985 and 1987 votes to allow strip mining on steep slopes.
"If she were elected, the environmental community would see it as a major setback," said Glen Besa, the Sierra Club's regional representative.
While her campaign is stressing the "sacred trust" of protecting the environment, there is little evidence that she has mellowed on specific issues. In 1997, she denounced Glendening's veto of a bill delaying vehicle emissions testing. This year, she criticized his insistence on including mandatory controls on farm pollution in his anti-Pfiesteria bill -- insisting that the link between the microbe and nutrient runoff was based on "political science."
She has also denounced his reversal on the ICC -- a stand that has brought her a windfall of contributions from Washington-area businesses.
Sauerbrey has lent her name to the executive board of Frontiers of Freedom, a staunchly conservative group that calls itself "the antithesis of the Sierra Club" and considers U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich too green on environmental issues.
The group advocates such policies as repealing the federal Endangered Species Act, protecting property owners against environmental regulation and opening Alaskan wildlife refuges to oil exploration.
The Republican front-runner's involvement in the group has drawn criticism from Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker, her opponent in the Sept. 15 Republican primary.
"Her record on the environment is the opposite of what she's been saying lately," said Ecker. "I don't think membership in that organization is a good qualification to be a governor."
Sauerbrey said last week she has not been active in the group for three years and was not aware that she was still a member of the board, though she acknowledged joining it in 1995.
"The overall thrust of the organization, as I remember what their goals were, was something I very much believe in," she said. She added that because of her inactivity, she should probably consider leaving the board.
Sauerbrey defended her legislative record and criticized the criteria the League of Conservation Voters used to compute her legislative scores. She cited a 1992 vote to limit oil tankers' liability for spills, explaining that shipping lines were threatening to cut off fuel deliveries to the port of Baltimore.
"I would characterize my voting record on the environment as one that tried to look at issues from a standpoint of sound science and one that recognized that the solutions being offered were not taking into consideration the impact on the economy," she said.
But she said she has learned much about the harm done by nutrients in the bay since her vote against the phosphate ban. "If I had that vote to cast today, I would cast in favor of it," she said.
As part of an effort to establish a greener image, Sauerbrey is offering her 12-point environmental plan.
Most of it consists of generalities, but some of the items appear to be thinly veiled criticisms of Glendening's clean water initiative. One of the more specific proposals is a pledge to repopulate the bay with "submerged aquatic vegetation and disease-resistant oysters to filter the bay and remove impurities."
Marine biologists say it is by no means certain that artificially propagating oysters or vegetation would be feasible or effective.
Chris Judy, director of the Shellfish Division at the Department of Natural Resources, said the state is researching propagating oysters. that are free of two diseases -- Dermo and MSX -- that have taken a toll on their numbers. But he said it is "a far reach" to expect hatchery technology to repopulate the bay with healthy oysters.
Robert Orth, a marine scientist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, said he would urge caution to anyone who asserts that the bay can be artificially repopulated with subaquatic vegetation.
"We've been transplanting sea grasses for 2 1/2 decades, and the amount we can plant is a pittance compared with what Mother Nature does if water quality improves," said Orth.
He said the most important aspect of any plan to restore bay grasses is reducing nutrient loads. "Clean it up and they will come."
Pub Date: 8/24/98