There’s news from the campaign to protect Oakland from dirty coal, and I’m afraid it’s not good.
Last summer, the community achieved a major victory against air pollution and climate disruption when the City Council voted to ban coal storage, loading, and handling — effectively blocking a developer’s dirty deal that would have made Oakland the largest coal-export facility on the West Coast. But in December, Phil Tagami, the private developer of a terminal at the former Oakland Army Base, sued the city to overturn the coal ban.
You can be sure that the Sierra Club will support the City’s sensible ban every step of the way. In fact, we’ve already filed two motions with the court: one is to “intervene” to offer the environmental perspective in support of the coal ban. The other motion is to dismiss some of the claims in the developer’s lawsuit altogether.
Here’s more background on this campaign: The lawsuit concerns a portion of the former Oakland Army Base that is being developed as a bulk export facility on city-owned land. Developer Phil Tagami explicitly promised not to include coal as a commodity handled by the terminal, but he later secretly solicited a partnership with four Utah counties that would have allowed the coal companies to handle and store up to 10 million tons of coal from their mines in Oakland each year.
After that backroom deal was revealed, the City of Oakland carefully examined the significant health impacts that storing and handling coal in West Oakland would have on nearby families already overburdened with air pollution. After conducting a review of the evidence and hearing the testimony of many experts and a local community deeply concerned about air quality, the City Council voted unanimously to use their legal authority to ban the storage and handling of coal in Oakland.
Oakland city officials were well within their legal rights to take a decisive stand against coal at the terminal on city-owned land. Tagami’s lawsuit ignores the will of the people and disregards the health and safety risks coal poses to community members, especially in West Oakland.
The Sierra Club will continue to stand with the city, and we will let you know of any opportunities to support the sensible ban on the storage and handling of coal in Oakland.
WhatYouCanDo
Our motions will come before the court on Thursday, April 20th, and we’ll have a small contingent of Sierra Club representatives in attendance to watch the proceedings. If you’re interested in attending this formal court proceeding to show your silent, respectful support for the coal ban, email brittany.king@sierraclub.org. There’s limited space available, so please make sure to RSVP.
Photo by Brooke Anderson.