Coal’s Dangers to Public Health and Safety
Note: At few years ago, the City of Oakland’s website became corrupted and many of the links on our website to the early record kept by the City no longer work. However, we have been able to link to existing copies of the two most important expert reports: the Public Health Advisory Panel Assessment and Dr. Zoe Chafe’s Analysis of Health Impacts and Safety Risks.
In June 2016, as the Oakland City Council considered whether to prohibit shipping and handling of coal at the export terminal under development in West Oakland, the City received three independent studies of the public health and safety impacts of the proposed coal terminal:
Public Health Advisory Panel, An Assessment of the Health and Safety Implications of Coal Transport through Oakland, June 14, 2016. Dr. Muntu Davis, the Alameda County Health Officer, submitted a letter concurring in the findings of the Public Health Advisory Panel. The Public Health Panel also submitted a document entitled Frequently Asked Health and Safety Questions about Coal in Oakland.
Zoe Chafe Ph.D., Analysis of Health Impacts and Safety Risks and Other Issues/Concerns Related to the Transport, Handling, Transloading, and Storage of Coal and/or Petroleum Coke (Petcoke) in Oakland and at the Proposed Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, June 22, 2016. List of Documents Cited, Documents Cited Volume 1, Documents Cited Volume 2, and Documents Cited Volume 3.
Environmental Science Associates Report, Report on the Health and/or Safety Impacts Associated with the Transport, Storage, and/or Handling of Coal and/or Coke in Oakland, Including at the Proposed Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal in the West Gateway Area of the Former Oakland Army Base, June 23, 2016.
At the City Council meeting on June 27, 2016, Dr. Heather Kuiper of the Public Health Advisory Panel spoke and submitted a handout comparing the findings of the three studies.
Earlier, on September 21, 2015, the City Council held a hearing on the health and safety impacts of allowing some or all of Oakland’s planned bulk commodities terminal to be devoted to shipping Utah coal overseas. In addition to providing extensive oral testimony, No Coal in Oakland and Earthjustice each submitted extensive written comments and expert reports that far surpassed the “substantial evidence” requirement to support a City Council Ordinance banning coal exports from the new terminal.
No Coal in Oakland’s comment—on behalf of itself, Sunflower Alliance, 350 Bay Area, System Change Not Climate Change, and West Oakland Neighbors—included analyses by Dr. Bart Ostro, former chief of the Air Pollution Epidemiology Section of the California Environmental Protection Agency, and Paul English, Ph.D., a public health epidemiologist with over 25 years of experience in assessing public health impacts of environmental exposures. Earthjustice’s comment—submitted on behalf of Sierra Club, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Communities for a Better Environment, and San Francisco Baykeeper—was supported by extensive health and safety reports by veteran environmental analyst and consulting engineer Phyllis Fox, Ph.D., and University of California Davis professor of civil and environmental engineering Deb Niemeier, Ph.D.
No Coal in Oakland’s and Earthjustice’s comments and expert reports are an excellent place to start if you are looking for in-depth information regarding the enormous health and safety risks posed by several mile-long coal trains passing each day through East Bay communities, through West Oakland, and out to the proposed coal terminal near the Bay Bridge toll plaza.