Healey says she had no choice on blocking Brookline's fossil fuel ban

Attorney General Maura Healey said Monday that state law required her office to block a move by Brookline to ban new construction that used fossil fuels for heating.

Brookline has twice tried to pass restrictions on new fossil fuel hookups and was blocked by Healey for the second time last week, who said that state law prohibits local governments from passing their own building codes.

“When you have a situation where a bylaw conflicts with state law, it can’t go forward. And that’s what happened here,” Healey said on GBH’s Boston Public Radio, adding she “absolutely” supports moves towards renewable energy and away from fossil fuels.

“We needed to do these things yesterday, and we don’t have any time to waste,” said Healey, who is also candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

During the same appearance, Healey said the state should not try to claw back all of the mistaken pandemic relief payments that were issued, and should focus only on people who were trying to cheat the system.

“I think that the state agency that was doing that work was doing the best it could at that time given its infrastructure to get money out the door to the people that needed it, but I think it’s terribly unfair to try to claw back that money now,” she said. “I think if there’s fraud, you’ve got to go after the fraud. But when you have people who applied in good faith and were given money in good faith, I think you’ve got to let that go.”

Heley also said she is huge fan of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden's nominee for the Supreme Court.

“She is amazing,” Healey said of her former Harvard classmate. "She is brilliant, she is thoughtful, she is compassionate, she is inspiring. She will just do amazing things for the Supreme Court and its credibility. ... I know that our class is just thrilled, absolutely thrilled with her nomination.”