By Mickey Ellinger, 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations
An enthusiastic and colorful opposition to the threat of coal trains rumbling by just blocks away greeted fans streaming into the Oakland Ballers game on Friday August 28. A giant puppet and mock train backed up a dozen demonstrators who sang, chanted No to Coal! and offered fans No Coal! flyers, yard signs, and a petition to the Bay Area Air District for an environmental review.
After opponents successfully denied developer Phil Tagami his plans to build a coal terminal in West Oakland in 2016, the prospect of coal trains was revived by President Trump in June with a $700 million slush fund, $75 million of which is aimed at Oakland, to promote what Trump calls “big, beautiful coal.”
This project would subsidize failing coal producers in Utah and Wyoming facing declining coal production and the closure of coal-fired plants all over the country.
Coal is the most polluting of all the fossil fuels, accounting for half a million deaths worldwide every year. As many as four trains a day would come around the bay from Martinez to Richmond, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville and West Oakland, coal dust polluting the air of millions of homes.
Opposition from elected officials arose immediately. Assembly Bill 40, the Community First Coal Review Act, which requires a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) under CEQA for large-volume bulk coal facilities handling over 5 million tons per year, has passed the Legislature and is on the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom (https://www.gov.ca.gov/contact) The No Coal in Oakland coalition formed to support official opposition, to demand an environmental impact review, and to make clear to potential investors that public opposition to coal pollution is broad and deep. Several hundred community, faith and business organizations have joined the coalition, also open to individuals.
To get in touch with No Coal see their website https://nocoalinoakland.info/
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