174 results for author: No Coal in Oakland

New terminal developer threatens to stick with coal unless Oakland pays him plenty

Vikas Tandon wants the City to fork over piles of money, to lower his rent, to extend the West Gateway lease, to provide construction financing, and/or to hand over additional property.  The hedge fund operator -- who late last year acquired a contested sublease on the Oakland waterfront property where developers have been angling to build a coal terminal -- met via Zoom in early May with anti-coal activists and attorneys from a half-dozen local and national organizations, and told participants that in return for significant concessions from the City he’ll develop the site as something other than a coal terminal (alternate commodity possibilities: ...

Oakland Post’s coal op-ed is riddled with errors

Late last month, Paul Cobb, publisher of the Oakland Post, wrote an opinion piece criticizing Oakland’s officials for refusing to negotiate a resolution to the dispute over a coal terminal developers want to build next to the Bay Bridge toll plaza. In fact, it is the developers who have not responded to City requests to reach a settlement. The opinion piece, titled “Time for the Mayor and the City to stop the Madness and Settle the Coal Dispute,” was published on the front page of the March 24-30, 2021 print edition (datelined March 25, 2021 on the paper’s website). It makes the false claim that the City of Oakland has declined invitations ...

No Coal in Oakland and the 2020 City Election

In 2016 the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to ban the storage and handling of coal at a proposed marine terminal on the city’s waterfront. The ban was reversed in a federal court decision, but construction of the terminal has not begun and the City still has multiple options for preventing its use for coal. No Coal in Oakland (NCIO) wants to preserve the City Council’s commitment to a coal-free Oakland, an issue of environmental justice that aims to both reduce our city’s contribution to climate chaos and protect residents of West Oakland already disproportionately subject to pollution. NCIO rejects any compromise that would allow coal ...

Utah Legislature: No Special Session Bailout for Bankrupt Oakland Coal Project

The Utah legislature completed its special session Thursday without allocating $20 million to bail would-be coal terminal operator Insight Terminal Solutions (“Insight”) out of bankruptcy, thanks to the work of a coalition of public interest and environmental activists formed less than two months ago after NCIO discovered and informed Utah allies that four counties hosting Wolverine Fuels' coal mines planned to apply for state funds to pass on to Insight to keep it in CEO John Siegel's hands. See Utah coal counties pledge $20 million in state money to help get Oakland port back on track and Will Throwing John Siegel a $20 Million Lifeline Buy Utah ...

WOEIP, Youth vs Apocalypse, and NCIO on KPFA’s “Full Circle”

Three Oakland activists shared their experiences working for environmental justice, including on the campaign to keep coal out of our city, on KPFA on August 14, 2020. “Full Circle” -- hosted by the First Voice Apprenticeship program at KPFA -- broadcast an interview conducted by Darlene Pagano with representatives of three local organizations: West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Youth vs. Apocalypse, and No Coal in Oakland. Ms. Margaret Gordon, Isha Tobias Clarke, and Michael Kaufman represented the three organizations, respectively (Ms. Margaret is both a founder and co-director of WOEIP and a member of NCIO’s Coordinating Committ...

A change of platform for NCIO Updates

No Coal in Oakland sends e-mail updates to let our community know about important developments in our campaign, and to engage Oaklanders and allies in helping to keep our waterfront free from toxic coal. For many years we have been using Mailchimp to send NCIO Updates. As of mid-year 2020, however, we’re changing platforms. Going forward, we’ll be using Action Network -- an organizing platform widely used since 2012 by progressive groups and campaigns, from the Black Friday Walmart Strikes to Daily Kos to Diablo Rising Tide -- both to maintain our e-mail list and to send future updates to our community. If you're not already subscribed, ...

Utah money laundering scheme aims to bail out bankrupt Oakland coal operators

“Utah coal counties pledge $20M in state money to help get Oakland port back on track,” an article in the Salt Lake Tribune published on Sunday July 5, 2020, exposes a money laundering scheme that has been years in the making. A No Coal in Oakland article of March 2016 describes the Utah state government's complicity in a shell game aimed at sidestepping initial legal challenges to attempts to squander public funding originally allocated to mitigate the effects of mining on local (Utah) communities. The scheme, driven by elected leaders in four Utah counties in the center of the state and laid out this week by SL Tribune journalist Brian ...

Oakland sues would-be coal developers

The City of Oakland has now sued the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal (OBOT) and California Capital Investment Group (CCIG) for breach of contracts to construct the bulk terminal at the West Gateway. This is the third lawsuit filed in the ongoing conflict between OBOT/CCIG and the City of Oakland, and the first filed by the City. The City filed its complaint in state court on May 27, 2020, the day after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sustained the federal trial court ruling that overturned application of the city’s ban on coal to OBOT. In its complaint, the City describes milestones that were contractually required of the developer, but ...

Ninth Circuit rules against Oakland, but the fight is far from finished

In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week against the City of Oakland in a breach of contract case brought by developers who claim they have a vested right to build a coal export terminal in West Oakland. The Oakland City Council passed a ban on storage and handling of coal in June 2016 in response to extensive evidence showing that coal poses substantial health and safety risks to workers and residents. The two-judge majority held that the developers’ contractual rights trumped the City of Oakland’s right to protect its residents from potential health and safety impacts on workers and Oakland residents. The ...

Japan’s Kiko Network: a new ally in opposition to an Oakland coal terminal

No Coal in Oakland has recently begun working with Japan’s Kiko Network, following discovery earlier this year that Insight Terminal Solutions (ITS) was pursuing a commitment from Japan’s largest energy company, JERA, to purchase 4 million tons of Utah coal per year. ITS, as we learned from the company’s bankruptcy court filings, is also pursuing financing from a Japanese bank, SMBC, for construction of a coal terminal in Oakland through which coal would be shipped to Japan. The Kiko Network introduced NCIO to its community last month, in an article published in English and Japanese. We are introducing Kiko Network to our community through this ...