Congressman Jake Auchincloss met with approximately thirty people at a morning coffee in Newtonville on August 31. In a wide-ranging discussion, the Congressman — formerly City Councilor-at-Large from Ward 2 — expressed his support for Federal spending to implement or strengthen state environmental, economic, energy and health care programs. He affirmed his commitment — and vote for — offshore wind, promising to put wind turbines along the south coast of Massachusetts to boost energy, protect the environment, and create jobs. While the Congressman’s focus is to promote non-fossil fuel energy alternatives, he lamented the fact that his Congressional colleagues are not fighting hard enough to eliminate carbon emissions. The Congressman is a proponent of nuclear energy, noting that MIT is working on a project that would create energy via fusion, which does not yield radioactive waste — still a problem with energy produced via nuclear fission.
In addition to his discussion of his environmental and economic agenda, Congressman Auchincloss shared his concerns about the growing emergence of authoritarian, totalitarian, white supremacist politics, likening it to a virus and asking, “When is the fever going to break?” Underscoring Massachusetts’ long commitment to an open, democratic electoral heritage, the Congressman said that the only way to protect the nation’s electoral process is through a Congressional bill to close loopholes threatening secure elections. He commended the work of the Environmental Voter Project, which he termed “the most significant non-partisan voter engagement project in the country.”
All politics being local, the Congressman expressed his frustration with the MBTA’s inability to regulate itself. He favors Federal Transportation Agency administration of the MBTA and a five-year operational plan that will include hiring 2000 workers and more flexible scheduling.
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