KENT ISLAND - With just two months left in office and a budget deficit on his hands, Gov. Parris N. Glendening announced plans yesterday to clean up the Chesapeake Bay by beginning a $500 million upgrade of the state's sewage treatment plants.
The proposal was hailed by environmental groups and activists, who acknowledged that completing it would depend on Glendening's successor - Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
"He could undo everything that Glendening did today, but hopefully he won't, because this is a good decision and will get things going in the right direction," said former state Sen. Bernie Fowler, a longtime bay activist. He said he was "elated" by the plan.
Glendening signed an executive order yesterday to overhaul many of the state's 66 major wastewater plants over the next eight years so that they discharge 40 percent less nitrogen and 30 percent less phosphorus - the bay's two main pollutants.
Glendening said that the improvements would be phased in and that costs would be shared by federal, state and local governments.
He said the plant upgrades are a key to removing the bay from the Environmental Protection Agency's list of pollution-impaired waters by 2010.
The proposal was praised yesterday by environmentalists.
"We've been saying for quite some time that wastewater treatment plants are a smart target, an easy target," said Theresa Pierno, Maryland director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
In announcing the plan yesterday, Glendening - who leaves office in January - sounded like someone in a hurry.
"We have to move faster and get more done," he said at a news conference along the bay on Kent Island. "Time is not on our side. We cannot afford to wait."
Glendening said he is confident that Ehrlich will push to fund the plan in the years ahead. He noted that Ehrlich sponsored legislation in Congress to provide federal funds for the bay restoration and that he had called for cleanup efforts in his campaign for governor.
The departing governor said he would press Ehrlich on the necessity of the bay cleanup in their meetings over the next few days.
Shareese N. DeLeaver, a spokeswoman for Ehrlich, called Glendening's plan "steps in the right direction," but said the state's fiscal outlook clouded Maryland's ability to pay for it.
Legislative analysts project a deficit of almost $1.8 billion in the state budget this year and next.
But supporters of Glendening's plan say sewer plant upgrades should begin as soon as possible, regardless of budget constraints and who serves as governor.
"It's not intended to pass the buck to the next governor, but it's a situation where the future governors, four years from now and eight years from now and 16 years from now, are going to have to be partners with their neighboring governors and with federal officials," said state Environment Secretary Richard F. Pecora.
Upgrades are either planned or about to be constructed at 20 sewage treatment plants throughout the state, including major projects in LaPlata and Cambridge, said Robert M. Summers, director of MDE's water management administration.
Just how much of the treatment-plant upgrades would be paid for with federal funds, and how much would come from cash-strapped state or local coffers, remained unclear.
"We will continue to be looking for federal money as an important source," said MDE spokesman John Verrico.
Jesse Jacobs, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, said a bill in the Senate calls for spending $100 million on sewage-plant upgrades and other projects. But he said it is not expected to pass this year.
Sarbanes has written to President Bush asking him to include $3.1 billion in the federal budget next year to help fund sewer plant upgrades, Jacobs said. If approved, that money would become available to Maryland and other states by October, he said.
Glendening said that the local costs for the upgrades could be financed by bonds, bank loans, loans from a revolving state fund or increased sewer rates.
He said that based on state estimates, sewer and water rates would likely increase over the next eight years, but only by an annual $5 to $14 per household.
"I think most people would be happy to pay that little bit extra if they knew it was going to help clean up the bay," Glendening said.
But the final cost for the treatment-plant upgrades could be higher, by one estimate. The Chesapeake Bay Program, an EPA-funded agency based in Annapolis, projects the costs will range from $658 million to $1.4 billion.
State officials defended their lower estimate as more realistic, and Rebecca Hanmer, director of the EPA bay program, acknowledged her office may have included costs for projects not included in the state estimates.
The uncertainty over how to pay for the treatment-plant upgrades mirrors an even larger funding gap in the overall bay restoration effort - which includes stemming farm runoff and purchasing buffer areas along the waterfront.
The Chesapeake Bay Commission estimated this week that Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania officials, along with local and federal officials, would have to spend $19.1 billion to carry out all the programs necessary by 2010.
Sun staff writer David Nitkin contributed to this article.