AUGUSTA – Cruise ship effluent standards that would make Maine and Alaska “the environmental bookends of the United States” were endorsed Thursday by the Maine House, a day after the Senate gave its blessing.

The cruise ship industry had expressed reservations about the bill, LD 1158, as it began its course through the Legislature, but a leading supporter, Rep. Herbert Adams, reassured the cruise lines that the state is not shunning them.

“In Maine, the welcome mat is out, but it says ‘Wipe your feet,'” said Adams, D-Portland.

The bill, which faces further votes, applies to large passenger vessels.

Thirty cruise ship visits are scheduled in 2004 in Portland, and 87 are scheduled in Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor’s total is more than twice its 2000 figure, while Portland’s is smaller by 13.

The bill requires the state Department of Environmental Protection during the next two years to adopt new effluent standards that are consistent with those of Alaska, which is said to have the nation’s most stringent.

“Maine and Alaska will be the environmental bookends of the United States,” said Adams.

It also calls for standards applying to cruise ships with advanced treatment systems that pump out much cleaner water, and reporting of unauthorized discharges of so-called graywater to the DEP beginning in 2006.

The measure continues Maine’s ban on dumping of untreated or oily waste within state waters, which extend three miles offshore.