Northern California communities are divided over the building of an Oakland port that would send Utah coal across the Pacific Ocean.
11 Bay Area mayors signed a letter on Thursday urging Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to consider the impacts of the proposed coal port. The letter detailed worries about the environmental cost of using the port to ship Utah coal.
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said that while many residents in the area are against the proposal, the only way to halt the project would be an official study showing immediate harm.
“The City of Oakland gave all of the rights to the developer. It’s insane that they did that but they did,” Bates said. “Oakland has one way that they can definitely block this, and that is to do a study of the health and safety of their citizens. If they make a determination that it’s not safe and it’s not healthy, the whole thing can be derailed right there. Once they get that, they can actually get out of their contract.”
If the study reveals negative impacts, Bates said that litigation could also be used if the port’s developers challenge the findings. He said that even the coal’s delivery route has aroused opposition.
“This train is either going to come through the northern route—which would bring it around by the San Francisco Bay and go to the Port of Oakland—or there’s a southern route, which would bring it through the Altamont Pass east of us. That would impact the mayor of Livermore, Pleasanton, Hayward, and San Leandro before it reaches Oakland,” he said. “Either way, the mayors on both of those routes have said, ‘We don’t want it. Please make a finding. We don’t want this coal.’ So, the mayors are already saying, ‘We don’t want it.’”
The letter also warned that no proven method has been found to contain coal dust during shipments.
