Candidates Debate at Environment Forum

March 24, 2014

By Brianna Bigelow 03-24-14

Photographer, John Satriale

Democratic candidates for the Governor of Massachusetts meton Friday at Fanueil Hall to take place in an environmental forum.

The forum attracted about 700 people, and brought highly controversial environmental issues to the forefront. Among many issues tackled, some of the most high-attention questions concerned storm-preparedness and gas tax.

Campaign frontrunner Martha Coakley spoke about the efforts that must be taken in order to protect the state’s coastline in the case of another super storm. She emphasized that preparations would have to be a team effort.

“We have to first, I think, do an effective and realistic risk assessment about what it means for our coast,” said Coakley. “Now, whether we work with other regional governors to do that, certainly with the federal government, to make sure that we understand what the risks are, I think that’s very important.”

While all five candidates agreed on the recent 3-cent increase in the state’s gas tax, disagreement arises when discussing a provision that would index the tax in future years to inflation. Attorney General Coakley, Treasurer Steve Grossman, and former Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem support the index.

Grossman argued that without the indexing of the tax, then vital transportation within the state couldn’t be funded. “We can’t do it without indexing,” he said.

In opposition to the indexing was Biotech executive Joe Avellone, who claims that he is speaking for the people on the issue. “I do not like the indexing of any tax tied to economic indicators,” Avellone said. “It’s a backdoor tax, people resent it … It’s politics as usual.”

The Massachusetts gubernatorial election will take place onNovember 4th, 2014.