City of Albany Passes No Coal Resolution

  • Speakers on Resolution 2026-77 at the Albany City Council meeting of 2026-10-19. Clockwise from upper-left: Lucinda Young, Ben Eichenberg Katy Vigil-McClanahan, and Allie Johnson. Credit: Zoom screenshots.

On October 19, 2026, the City of Albany joined Richmond, Emeryville, and Berkeley as East Bay city governments close ranks against coal transport, handling, and storage of coal in our communities. Albany’s City Council passed Resolution 2026-77 unanimously, with one councilmember absent.

A half-dozen speakers addressed the City Council in support of the resolution. The youngest speaker gave this comment:

Hi, I’m Oliver from Cornell Elementary, and I believe we should be against the coal facility because doing this will cause climate change and damage our ecosystems and our health.

Other speakers included Albany residents Ben Eichenberg on behalf of San Francisco Baykeeper, Katy Vigil-McClanahan, Allie Johnson, Tom Athanasiou, and Lucinda Young speaking on behalf of the Albany Climate Action Coalition. The speakers in favor of the resolution can be viewed on a YouTube recording of the meeting, starting at 1:36:45.

In addition to opposing “transport of coal and petcoke through the city and through nearby cities … [and] the handling and storage of coal at the proposed OBOT facility in Oakland,” Albany’s resolution “urges the Air District to adopt measures that would strengthen regulation of coal and petcoke as components of fugitive dust” and “to ensure that any air permit it issues to the OBOT facility fully protects Oakland and other Bay Area workers and residents from exposure to dangerous coal and petcoke emissions.”

Albany also threw its support behind California’s newly enacted law, AB40, that requires a “full, up-to-date Environmental Impact Report under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)” in the course of evaluating any application for an air permit for the Oakland Bulk and Oversize Terminal (OBOT).

No Coal in Oakland thanks the City of Albany for its insistence on protecting the health and safety of all residents of the East Bay; and on opposing the mining, transport, and burning of coal that would add to our planet’s ongoing climate crises.

 

 

Albany’s Resolution 2026-77 can be accessed on the Citystream-dot-com website. Image: speakers on Resolution 2026-77 at the Albany City Council meeting of 2026-10-19. Clockwise from upper-left: Lucinda Young, Ben Eichenberg, Katy Vigil-McClanahan, and Allie Johnson. Credit: Zoom screenshots.