Today, the Sierra Club and SF Baykeeper, represented by Earthjustice, filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal, LLC, owned by private developer Phil Tagami, challenging Oakland’s ban on handling and storage of coal in Oakland. The groups also filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
The lawsuit concerns a portion of the former Oakland Army Base that is being developed as a bulk export facility on city-owned land. The developer promised not to include coal as a commodity handled by the terminal, but later secretly solicited a partnership with four Utah counties that would have allowed the state to export up to 10 million tons of coal from their mines through Oakland each year.
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 in August 2016 to use their legal authority to ban the storage and handling of coal in Oakland.
We will continue to stand alongside our partners in the labor, faith, and environmental justice communities to support the City and its sensible ban every step of the way.