A flotilla of riverkeepers arrived at Annapolis City Dock in the afternoon to lament a long list of environmental bills that failed during the General Assembly session.

"We don't want incremental solutions," said Patuxent Riverkeeper Fred Tutman, who led the rally of riverkeepers demanding more pro-environment bills.

One by one, they listed environmental measures that failed: banning arsenic in chicken feed, putting a tax on plastic bags, establishing a tax to raise money for fixing stormwater pollution, requiring more reporting of pesticides, requiring energy companies to buy power from offshore wind farms.

They also criticized one bill that passed - the one that defines incinerating trash to create electricity as renewable energy.

The only bill they liked was the fertilizer bill, which requires manufacturers to change their fertilizer formulations to reduce nutrients that are harmful when they wash into the Chesapeake Bay.

O'Malley defended signing the trash incineration bill, saying it's just one form of renewable energy that Maryland should pursue.

"It is only through a diverse, renewable fuel mix that we will be able to reach our aggressive goals, protect our precious environment, and create the economic engine to move Maryland forward," O'Malley wrote in his statement announcing that he would sign the bill.

Michael Helfrich, the Lower Susquehanna riverkeeper, came down from Pennsylvania to share his disappointment.

He said many point to Pennsylvania as a source of Chesapeake Bay pollution, but it's a tough sell to get Pennsylvanians to clean up their act when they don't get to enjoy the bay.

If Maryland were to pass strong environmental laws, it would be easier for Pennsylvania to do so, too, he said.

"You have to lead for us to be able to follow," Helfrich said.

Anne Arundel's riverkeepers were represented, including South Riverkeeper Diana Muller, whose two children carried posters with photos of a diseased catfish from the South River.

Copyright © Capital Gazette Communications, Inc., 2011.