City Council Candidates’ Positions on Coal

  • Young people on steps of City Hall, No Coal rally July 21, 2015

A majority of the candidates running for Oakland City Council in November’s election have pledged their opposition to coal (and are listed below). These pledges matter deeply to Oaklanders, most especially the West Oakland community adjacent to the long-proposed – and long-resisted – coal terminal developers aim to build at the foot of the Bay Bridge.

The Oakland City Council faces a major change of personnel in the new year.   Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan, who were staunch advocates for the coal ban, are not seeking re-election.  With Treva Reid also not running, there will be at least three new council members out of eight, and possibly as many as three others depending on the outcomes of two contested seats and Nikki Bas’s race for County Supervisor (if Bas wins the County Supervisor seat, a special election will be held to fill her position on the Oakland City Council).

Councilmembers’ commitment is important because of two current lawsuits. The City is appealing a state court ruling reinstating developer Phil Tagami’s lease on the waterfront property; the developers’ unrepentant ambition to profit by shipping coal through a West Gateway terminal was made clear in that case by the “speculative and unreliable” arguments they presented for “lost profits” based on their envisioned sixty-six years of coal terminal operation.  Oakland is also defending itself against another lawsuit, this one filed by the hedge-fund owned West Gateway sublessee claiming a preposterous billion dollars in “lost profits.”  If either case settles, the City Council will vote on whether to accept the settlement.  If the City loses its appeal, the Council will decide whether to take further steps to prevent storage and handling of coal in Oakland, and what those steps would be.

For these reasons it is essential that council members understand the dangers coal poses to the West Oakland community and the climate.  This is the pledge we asked the candidates to sign:

Candidate Statement Opposing Coal in Oakland

As a candidate for Oakland City Council, I hereby express my strong opposition to allowing the storage or handling of coal or petroleum coke in Oakland, including specifically at a West Gateway terminal.

If elected, I will direct the City Attorney to continue to pursue an enforceable coal and petroleum coke prohibition, without loopholes, binding on the current West Gateway lessees, their sublessees, and any successors-in-interest.

In the event the City Attorney is unable to achieve such a prohibition, whether through settlement or court judgment, I will support the City’s pursuit of every feasible regulatory, legislative, and legal strategy to prevent the handling of coal or petroleum coke.

The candidates who have signed the pledge to oppose coal

At-large

  • Rowena Brown
  • Shawn Danino
  • Nancy Sidebotham
  • Selika Thomas
  • Cristina Tostado
  • Charlene Wang
  • LeRonne Armstrong
  • Kanitha Matoury
  • (2 did not sign)

District 1

District 3

District 5

  • Erin Armstrong
  • Noel Gallo
  • (1 did not sign)

District 7

  • Merika Goolsby
  • Marcie Hodge
  • Iris Merriouns
  • (1 did not sign; potential write-in Tonya Love did sign)

City Attorney

The City Attorney is also retiring.  The two candidates for that position are Ryan Richardson, who works in the City Attorneys’ office and has pledged not to accept money from coal interests; and Brenda Harbin-Forte, a retired judge who will not sign such a pledge and has other positions of concern to NCIO.  Watch for a post [UPDATE: it’s here] about our interviews with both City Attorney candidates.

After the election NCIO will arrange to meet with the new council members to answer their questions and brief them about the coal campaign.  If you are in a district with a new council member with whom you have a relationship, let us know if you’d like to join our meeting with them.

Image: Young people on steps of City Hall, No Coal rally July 21, 2015. Photo credit: Steve Nadel.