Candidates spar at BU forum over green credentials

All of the candidates professed to recycle. Two of them - Attorney General Martha Coakley and Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca - said they have compost piles in their backyards, and Pagliuca claims to have a beanstalk growing out of his.

During a 90-minute forum held at Boston University and sponsored by several environmental groups, all the candidates said more should be done to combat global warming, and all said they would promote public transportation as a way to lower carbon emissions. And, in a significant break with the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the man they are running to succeed, all have said they support a wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

“Based on what I’ve done to clean up the environment, I actually think I could probably drive around in a Humvee for the rest of my life and still be on the positive side of having cleaned up the environment,’’ said US Representative Michael Capuano. But Capuano also fessed up to having “some of the most inefficient heating boilers in my home you can possibly have. Not because I like it, but because I haven’t got the $30,000 it’s going to take to fix it.’’

City Year cofounder Alan Khazei sought to top his rivals with an anecdote about his young daughter’s reaction when he told her he was running for Senate.

“Daddy, if you’re senator you can help me get my gas-free, battery-powered scooter built,’’ Khazei recalled his daughter saying. And then, he boasted, “So I’ve got a 7-year-old environmentalist at home.’’

The four Democrats, who will face off in a special primary election Dec. 8, differed slightly on how they would vote on a pending climate change bill, which currently includes incentives for nuclear power and offshore drilling. While all four candidates said they oppose such drilling, Coakley was the only one open to providing federal subsidies for nuclear power, saying “nuclear can’t be off the table.’’

Khazei repeatedly chastised Coakley and Capuano for taking campaign donations from lobbyists and political action committees. He brought the issue up so many times that he twice apologized for being repetitive.

“I’m curious Martha, I have a question for you,’’ Khazei said before several audience members started hissing. “Do you think that the big oil industry lobbyists that are raising money for your campaign and contributing to you will expect you to side with them, or the citizens who want climate change?’’

“I’ve always disclosed where I get my money from,’’ Coakley responded. “And I’ve always made my decisions based upon the merits of the issue.’’

Several minutes later, Khazei suggested he wouldn’t meet with any lobbyists if elected, prompting Capuano to jump in and ask, “Does that include the lobbyists for the Sierra Club?’’

Khazei paused briefly before answering, “Yes,’’ and after the forum, Khazei confirmed that he would never meet with a lobbyist if he’s elected. But less than three hours later, Khazei sent out a statement saying his comment that he wouldn’t meet with Sierra Club lobbyists “was a mistake on my part’’ and that “I should have said that I will be open to hearing all views, will meet with citizen members of the Sierra Club as well as lobbyists they hire, and work to change the laws so that nonprofits do not have to hire lobbyists.’’

Asked what cars they drive, Capuano and Coakley both said they drive a Ford Escape, Khazei said he drives a 15-year-old Toyota Corolla wagon, and Pagliuca said he has a Lexus hybrid as well as a 10-year-old Lexus he’s hoping to soon replace. Khazei noted that his campaign car was a hybrid; Capuano said that while he can’t afford a campaign car, four people crowded into his car to attend the environmental forum, a feat, he said, that “ought to count for something.’’

The candidates struggled on a few questions. Asked to name environmental heroes, Capuano said, “I don’t know. John Audubon? I haven’t got a clue.’’ When a panelist pointed out that Audubon also shot birds, he quipped, “They wouldn’t sit still to be painted. What can I tell you?’’

Coakley picked James R. Milkey, an environmentalist who is currently a Massachusetts appellate judge. Khazei cited the environmentalist author Rachel Carson and former vice president Al Gore. Pagliuca also picked Gore.

None could define the term ocean acidification, and when Pagliuca tried unsuccessfully to explain it, the crowd groaned. (For the curious, it is a decrease in pH levels that harms the ability of many organisms to build shells and skeletal structures.)

And the candidates did some fancy footwork to deal with a question about whether they would loosen federal protection of seals in response to complaints from fishermen who say a rebounding seal population is harming their catch.

“I like seals,’’ Khazei said. “The answer is no . . . I’m for seals.’’

Capuano said that while he’s not yet in favor of allowing seals to be killed, “fishermen are an endangered species.’’

And Pagliuca, to laughter, said, “As someone who can’t kill a fly, I think I would have a hard time killing a seal. But maybe we could bring sharks in.’’

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.