180 results for author: No Coal in Oakland

Oregon courts let Portland ban on fossil fuel infrastructure stand. For now.

In late 2016, the Portland, Oregon City Council unanimously approved two resolutions protecting residents from fossil fuel projects. They banned construction or expansion of infrastructure to transport or store fossil fuels in the city; and they voted to oppose rail projects planned to carry crude oil through the cities of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. Subsequently, Oregon's Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) heard an appeal of these actions led by the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council, Portland Business Alliance and Western States Petroleum Association. A winding road through Oregon’s appeals process LUBA ruled in July 2017 ...

Posturing and evasion from Bank of Montreal

Bank Vows Not to Disavow Financing of Coal Terminal In response to NCIO's letter to Bank of Montreal’s ombudsperson Bindu Dhaliwal, the bank has responded. Sort of. Michael Torrance -- Chief Sustainability Officer and Associate General Counsel for the bank -- wrote to NCIO at length, but failed to substantively address any issue raised by NCIO's letters to Dhaliwal and to bank CEO Darryl White. By acknowledging that “for confidentiality reasons we will not be discussing particular clients or transactions with third parties,” Mr. Torrance clearly implies that Bank of Montreal is still involved in financing for the proposed Bowie Resource ...

Open letter to Bank of Montreal Ombudsperson: no financing for coal!

No Coal in Oakland emailed this letter to staff at the Bank of Montreal, which has positioned itself to raise funds needed to build a coal terminal in West Oakland. The coal terminal project is locally fronted by would-be coal developer Phil Tagami, and is sponsored by coal giant Bowie Resources. The letter is part of No Coal in Oakland's ongoing Stop the Coal Money Initiative, which aims to block the capital to finance the terminal by stigmatizing would-be financiers and warning pension funds about toxic coal projects. This letter, addressed to the Bank of Montreal's ombudsperson Bindu Dhaliwal, follows up our letter to the CEO of the bank, sent ...

Politicians Pledge to Refuse Support from Tagami

Despite widespread opposition to his proposed Oakland coal terminal, developer Phil Tagami continues to jockey for political influence. No Coal in Oakland is determined to render Tagami politically toxic until he makes a legally binding agreement not to ship coal through West Oakland. NCIO is collecting pledges from politicians that they will not accept contributions from Tagami so long as he continues promoting coal. The pledge reads: "I will not accept any support, financial or otherwise, to my campaign or my political fundraising efforts from Phil Tagami until he enters into a legally binding contract not to ship coal through Oakland.” NCIO ...

Stop the Coal Money: sign Open Letter to Bank of Montreal

No Coal in Oakland welcomes individuals and organizations to sign onto an Open Letter to the Bank of Montreal, which has mired itself in raising funds for the Bowie Resources sponsored effort to build a coal terminal in West Oakland, a project fronted by Oakland's coal developer Phil Tagami. We're calling on the bank to "honor the Oakland City Council’s ordinance prohibiting storage and handling of coal anywhere in the city" and pledge to "refrain from advising on or arranging financing for the proposed terminal." The open letter follows up our letter to the CEO of the bank, sent on March 29, 2018. A detailed background paper describes the ...

NCIO Comments on Judge’s Decision in Favor of Coal Terminal

A comment on Judge Chhabria’s decision The long wait is over and, in the end, none of the theatrics staged by the high-priced lawyers for developer Phil Tagami and the Bowie coal company mattered at all. These lawyers claimed that the City had already made up its mind to ban coal before doing any analysis of the facts. They claimed that the City Council members didn’t have time to read the three reports that provided evidentiary support for the City’s decision. None of that mattered. All Judge Chhabria looked at was whether the extensive evidence collected and entered into the record before the Oakland City Council's first vote in ...

Judge Rules in Favor of Tagami; Community Groups Vow to Fight On

Judge Vince Chhabria ruled this morning against the City of Oakland in the lawsuit brought by coal developer Phil Tagami. Below you will find the press release NCIO and APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network) issued yesterday afternoon. No Coal in Oakland will be meeting with attorneys, public health experts, and political leaders to develop the next stage of our ongoing commitment to assure that a coal terminal is never constructed in West Oakland. We are exploring every available option. As our strategy develops, watch for more information on our website and in future e-mails. We plan to keep the community fully engaged and informed. It is ...

Alicia Garza declines award linked to coal developer Tagami

Oakland activist and community leader Alicia Garza, cofounder of the Black Lives Matter movement, has announced that she will decline to accept an Innovator Award that was to be presented this week by coal developer Phil Tagami for the East Bay Innovation Academy. Garza declined the award after members of Youth Vs Apocalypse drew her attention to the central role Tagami is playing in the attempt to ship coal through Oakland, threatening the lives and health of our community and degrading our environment. Youth Vs. Apocalypse is a community of Oakland activist youth who oppose Tagami’s lawsuit, which aims to overturn the unanimous July 2016 vote ...

“Catch Up on Coal” Community Meeting held on April 19th

Oaklanders attending an NCIO meeting for the first time joined longtime activists on Thursday evening April 19th at the West Side Missionary Baptist Church on Willow Avenue to share a meal, then discuss Oakland's ongoing effort to keep the West Gateway coal-free. No Coal in Oakland thanks our host for the evening, Rev. Ken Chambers, as well as the dozens of other clergy, journalists, attorneys, and neighbors who came to hear and discuss updates on the No Coal campaign, and to plan strategy and tactics as the struggle for Oakland's well-being continues. Coal Lawsuit Status First up on the agenda, NCIO's lora jo foo summarized the current state of the ...

No Coal in Oakland, Allies Launch Campaign Targeting Bank Backing the Bowie Coal Terminal

Along with the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, 350.org, Rainforest Action Network, Friends of the Earth U.S., and Friends of the Earth Canada, No Coal in Oakland today launched a campaign seeking a pledge from Bank of Montreal to refrain from any further efforts to arrange financing for Bowie Resource Partners, Utah's largest coal producer, to build and operate a $250 million marine export terminal on the West Oakland waterfront. Documents obtained through public documents requests revealed the bank's central role in putting together the deal that would route up to ten million tons of coal per year through Oakland. The six environm...