RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO END COAL HANDLING

Richmond, Calif. — Last night, the Richmond City Council voted to approve an ordinance that will prohibit the storage and handling of coal in Richmond in order to protect community health and safety. The ordinance will phase out storage and handling of coal and petroleum coke over a period of three years.

Community members and advocacy groups applauded the Council’s action today, thanking Mayor Tom Butt, Vice Mayor Ben Choi, and Councilmembers Eduardo Martinez, Jael Myrick and Melvin Willis for their votes to protect the health and safety of Richmond residents and to Councilmember Eduardo Martinez for sponsoring the ordinance to ban coal and petcoke.

“Thank you to the Councilmembers who listened to the people of Richmond and voted today to protect Richmond from dirty, dangerous coal,” said Julia Walsh, MD, MSc, a Professor of Maternal and Child Health and International Health at UC Berkeley. “Richmond communities are already overburdened by pollution from the I-80 and I-580 corridors, the Chevron refinery, and other industrial polluters. Cutting out this source of deadly particulate matter in the form of coal dust means fewer trips to the hospital, fewer kids with asthma, and longer lifespans for many residents.”

“Today Richmond communities made a stand for clean air and public health,” said Minda Berbeco, director of the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club. Thank you to the Richmond City Council members who voted to prioritize community health and safety. We look forward to working with the City and the terminal in ensuring this facility continues to be a part of Richmond’s economy.”

"The health of Richmond youth is compromised by breathing the coal dust that comes from trains passing through the city,” said Diego Garcia, Community Advocate. “My soccer team is affected, along with everyone who spends time outdoors. I’m grateful the city council has voted to end the storage and handling of coal from the Richmond terminal."

“With the recent huge increase in coal storage and handling in Richmond, coal dust is visible in the neighborhoods and is toxic in the bodies of local residents,” said Margaret Rossoff of No Coal in Oakland. “This ordinance uses the city's police powers to phase out coal, a land use approach that has proven successful in other jurisdictions. This will free up the terminal to ship healthier commodities. Let's protect the city and the planet."

Background: Richmond’s Levin Terminal began handling and storing coal in 2013, and quantities of the dirty fossil fuel have since ramped up exponentially. In 2018, the Levin terminal handled and stored nearly a million metric tons of coal — a 536 percent increase over 2013 coal quantities.

To get from coal mines to the private port in Richmond, the dirty fossil fuel was transported through countless communities to reach Richmond, impacting thousands of residents health and safety. 

Upon reaching the waterfront terminal — which is less than a mile away from residential neighborhoods — the coal is heaped in massive open-air piles and loaded onto ships. Bay breezes carry the toxic coal dust onto surrounding communities and the bay. The coal dust from Levin-Richmond Terminal contributes to the poor air quality and risks the health and safety of residents. Coal dust contains poisons such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, vanadium, and chromium, which cause cancer, birth defects, endocrine disruption and neurological harm. The microscopic particles deeply penetrate the lungs and blood, resulting in widespread inflammation and high prevalence of lung and heart disease, diabetes, low birth weight and other illnesses.  

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