9 results for author: Ted Franklin

Hedge Fund Ousts Coal Exec in Bid to Build Oakland Export Terminal

On Election Day -- November 3, 2020 -- Los Angeles hedge fund manager Vikas Tandon took over the company formed to build a coal export terminal in West Oakland. Judge Joan Lloyd of the United States Bankruptcy Court in Louisville, Kentucky anointed Tandon the new CEO of Insight Terminal Solutions (ITS). Tandon’s company, Autumn Wind Lending LLC, is now the sole owner of ITS, though whether ITS’s mission to ship coal through Oakland will change under new ownership remains unknown. For seven years, ITS’s ousted CEO, coal industry veteran John J. Siegel, Jr., dreamed of building a coal export facility in Oakland. In September 2018, he signed a ...

Will Throwing John Siegel a $20 Million Lifeline Buy Utah a California Coal Terminal?

Today, a coalition of Utah environmental and public interest organizations called on the Utah Legislature to turn down an urgent bailout request from the bankrupt developer of the embattled coal export terminal project in Oakland, Calif.

How Phil Tagami Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Coal

Phil Tagami assured City officials and the public in Decenber 2013 that he had no interest in coal; by April 2014, he was in bed with the coal industry where he has remained ever since. Did the prospect of financial ruin change his mind?

No Coal Activists Voice Cautious Optimism After Ninth Circuit Hearing

After a packed Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals hearing Tuesday, No Coal in Oakland activists are cautiously optimistic that the court will overturn District Court Judge Vince Chhabria’s May 2018 decision concluding that the City of Oakland breached its contract with developers.

Utah Coal Company’s $53 Million Money Grab for the Oakland (or Ensenada!) Coal Terminal

For two years, $53 million of public funds have been sitting in limbo in Utah while the City of Oakland’s ban on coal is being tested in the courts. Utah legislation is designed to free up the money for developers of a coal export terminal, but will it be in Oakland or in Baja California?

City of Oakland and Allies Fire Opening Salvos in Appeal to Restore Coal Ban

The City of Oakland and its allies have filed the first round of briefs in the legal battle to overturn U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria’s May 2018 decision striking down Oakland’s resolution banning the storage and handling of coal at a West Oakland site near the Bay Bridge.

Canadian Bank Plays Big Role in Keystone Pipeline, Oakland Coal Terminal

Although “Bank of Montreal” is hardly a household name in the U.S., Bank of Montreal is now playing an outsized role in efforts to build Oakland’s proposed coal terminal as well as the Keystone XL Pipeline newly revived by Trump Administration proclamation. The Canadian bank’s role in arranging financing for developer Phil Tagami’s coal terminal was first dissected over a year ago in No Coal in Oakland’s earlier post, “Coal’s Frontmen in Oakland: Who Owns TLS?”  The article revealed how Jeffrey Holt, a Bank of Montreal investment banker stationed in Utah, orchestrated the deal that would provide $50 million of Utah public money ...

April 20 Court Date Looms Big In Oakland Coal Struggle

Next Thursday, April 20, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria will hear the first arguments in the historic courtroom battle between the City of Oakland and local developer Phil Tagami who wants to build a major coal export facility on the West Oakland waterfront. The City of Oakland, Sierra Club, and San Francisco Baykeeper will face off against Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal LLC (OBOT), a corporate shell through which Tagami and his business partners hold a 66-year lease and rights to develop and operate a marine terminal on the West Gateway portion of the former Oakland Army Base. In December 2016, OBOT sued the City in an ...

Labor Tackles Climate Jobs Challenge as Oakland Coal Controversy Goes to Court: “Jobs for Workers, Not for Lawyers”

On Saturday, April 8, the Alameda Labor Council will sponsor a Labor, Climate & Jobs Forum with plenary and workshop sessions devoted to how Unions are addressing climate and environmental challenges by organizing workers and communities.  Speakers will include Josie Camacho, executive secretary-treasurer, Alameda Labor Council; Kathyrn Lybarger, president, California State Federation of Labor; Cesar Diaz, State Building and Construction Trades Council; and Carol Zabin, UC Berkeley Labor Center Green Economy Program. The Forum follows the Labor Council's pathbreaking support for the No Coal in Oakland campaign.  In September 2015, in one of ...