The battle to become the District's next mayor headed to the Anacostia River Tuesday, as incumbent Adrian Fenty and challenger Vincent Gray had one joint appearance and one where Fenty was notably absent.

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While the Potomac is Washington's famous river, the Anacostia is best known, perhaps, for its pollution. But with one week until the Democratic primary, which all but decides the mayoral race, both Fenty and Gray were on hand for a ribbon cutting at The Yards, a new park near Nationals Park. It's part of a massive riverfront project that developers hope will be home to 18,000 residents and 100,000 jobs.

"On behalf of the 600,000 residents of Washington, D.C, I couldn't be more excited to be here," Fenty said at the ribbon cutting.

An hour after that event, and a mile upriver, conservationists denounced Fenty for not attending their news conference and not signing a pledge to work with the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up six designated toxic sites along the Anacostia.

"Mayor Fenty was invited to the press conference and was invited to sign he pledge," said Anacostia Riverkeeper Dottie Yunger. "We did not receive a response from Mayor Fenty."

Gray was there, as were several council members. They all signed.

"To say you want a clean river means that you've got to participate in anything that is going to move that forward," Gray said.

Fenty, in an interview, countered that while he didn't attend the event, he is not against the Riverkeepers' message: "No, I'm not part of it, but to the extent their announcement is that they want the city to continue to be aggressive in cleaning up the Anacostia, that is a message I wholeheartedly support," Fenty said.

The environmentalists insist the mayor refused to seek EPA help to clean up half the sites because, they say, he worried it would hurt development.

Fenty also upset environmentalists earlier this year when he attempted to raid the funds generated by the city's 5-cent bag fee -- which are designated for cleaning up the Anacostia -- to balance the budget. He lost that battle.