Labor Letter to the Bay Area Air District
Unions and Union Members Call for Environmental Review of Proposed Oakland Coal Export Terminal to Protect Worker and Community Health & Safety
“By summer 2028, over 12 million tons of clean, beautiful coal per year will be shipped to countries all around the world,” bragged President Donald Trump said as he promised a $75 million grant to help private developers build a “massive” coal export terminal in West Oakland.
Join the many unions and union members who are petitioning the Bay Area Air District to demand a comprehensive and up-to-date environmental review of the proposed terminal.
Without a fresh EIR based on current science, the health of those who work, live, go to school, shop, and recreate will be jeopardized by toxic coal dust blowing off several mile-long trains passing through Oakland and more than a dozen other East Bay cities each day.
Sign the petition, share the link with coworkers, and organize to get your union to sign on!
Here’s the Text of the Open Letter from Unions and Union Members:
To the Board of Directors and Staff of the Bay Area Air District,
As labor organizations and union members, we are writing to urge the Bay Area Air District to carry out a full environmental impact review of the proposed coal export terminal in West Oakland. According to public health experts, this project has the potential to expose waterfront workers and residents of West Oakland and other working-class East Bay neighborhoods to toxic coal dust for decades to come. The last environmental review of this project was conducted 14 years ago and did not even consider the potential impacts of coal.
The labor movement has always stood for one fundamental principle: every worker deserves a safe job, healthy community, and a future that offers dignity and opportunity. Today, we are upholding those values by joining the growing coalition calling for a full environmental review of the proposed coal export terminal in Oakland. This is not simply an environmental issue. It is a labor issue.
Coal is one of the most dangerous commodities to transport and handle. Coal dust generated during rail transport, storage, and loading is linked to serious respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, including asthma, COPD, and other long-term health impacts. These hazards threaten not only workers directly handling coal but also railroad workers, longshore workers, truck drivers, and the families and communities along the rail corridor and near the proposed terminal. West Oakland already suffers disproportionately high rates of air pollution and asthma due to decades of industrial and port activity. But working-class neighborhoods and environmental justice communities from Martinez to Richmond and down to Oakland will all be part of the “sacrifice zone” subject to heightened air pollution.
The proposed coal terminal also fails to deliver on the promise of good union jobs. Beyond a few hundred short-term construction jobs at the very beginning of the developer’s 66-year lease, the coal export terminal would contribute practically nothing to our local or regional economy – a few dozen permanent jobs in a toxic workplace. Nor would expanding coal exports create good union jobs back in Utah where the coal shipped through Oakland would be mined. After years of union-busting, there are no union mines left in Utah. This project would primarily benefit out-of-state coal companies and financial speculators while exposing Bay Area workers and communities to the health and safety risks associated with coal transport.
Our movement has never accepted the false choice between jobs and health. We know that workers deserve both. The future of the Oakland waterfront should be built around industries that provide stable, family-supporting union jobs without exposing workers and nearby residents to toxic pollution. The coalition opposing coal has consistently supported redevelopment of the former Oakland Army Base and the jobs it can create, while rejecting the developer’s obsession with coal exports.
Labor has long been at the forefront of fights for workplace safety, clean air, and public health. The victories that gave us OSHA protections, clean workplaces, and safer industries were won because unions recognized that protecting workers extends beyond the job site. Supporting a comprehensive environmental review is entirely consistent with that proud tradition.
We call on the Bay Area Air District to stand with working people by performing a rigorous review of all potentially significant air quality impacts as part of a full, up-to-date Environmental Impact Report under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). It is a reasonable, responsible step that ensures the full impacts of this proposal are evaluated before irreversible decisions are made. The Air District can ensure that any development on Oakland’s waterfront protects workers and Bay Area communities from the hazards that may result from operation of a massive coal export facility on San Francisco Bay.
Working people deserve jobs that build a healthier future, not infrastructure that endangers our health while enriching non-union coal interests. We say, “Clean jobs, Clean air!”