Brooke Anderson
Last week in Oakland leaders representing a broad spectrum of faith communities united to say no to dirty coal exports. Brought together by California Interfaith Power & Light, in partnership with the Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter, these leaders represented diverse groups -- from the Nation of Islam to Jewish, Roman Catholic and Episcopal communities.
These faith leaders are standing up to polluters who have waged a misinformation campaign in Oakland that has directly targeted local churches. The developers who want to export coal through a proposed shipping terminal have made a number of promises to local churches - promises that they may not be able to keep - and spread misinformation about the safety and health issues surrounding coal trains. That’s why these faith leaders stood together last week to push back on the developer’s dirty tactics, and call on the Oakland City Council to pass a ban on coal exports.
“No community, rich or poor, should endure the effects of coal. But the environmental inequity of the coal terminal proposal cannot be disregarded,” said the Rev. Kenneth Chambers (pictued above), pastor of West Side Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland. “West Oakland already bears a disproportionate burden of pollution, of toxic contamination from diesel exhaust spewing from thruways crisscrossing through the community. Life expectancy of West Oakland residents is far below the life expectancy of residents in the Oakland hills, and West Oakland tenants are twice as likely to visit emergency rooms for asthma as the rest of Alameda County. The West Oakland community cannot afford to have any more pollution dumped on us. We ask the City Council to stand with us over polluters and profits.”
Faith leaders have been deeply engaged in the campaign to stop coal exports in Oakland. Congregations throughout Oakland have hosted teach-ins on the health, safety and climate impacts of coal. In addition to local Oakland clergy, prominent Bay Area faith leaders from the Jewish, Roman Catholic and Episcopal communities have all spoken out against coal and signed onto a letter drafted by California Interfaith Power & Light, urging the City Council to ban coal exports.
“As a resident of West Oakland, a person with respiratory challenges and a faith leader, I am profoundly concerned about the health and environmental impacts of transporting coal through our city,” said Archdeacon of the diocese of California, Carolyn Bolton. “I strongly oppose the development of a coal terminal in our already vulnerable and highly impacted community.”
At the rally the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign released a poll that found that 75 percent of Oakland voters surveyed oppose the proposal to ship coal, demonstrating that these faith leaders represent the vast majority of Oakland community members.
“This poll clearly demonstrates what we’ve learned from our conversations on the ground with Oaklanders,” said Brittany King of the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club. “Oakland residents do not want dirty coal exports in their city. The City Council has the legal authority to ban coal due to the health and safety risk this dangerous commodity poses to Oakland residents. It’s time for our elected leaders to make it clear that they stand with the 76 percent of Oakland voters who oppose coal exports in Oakland.”