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

No Coal Graphic
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 ...

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Alicia Garza declines award linked to coal developer Tagami

Youth March Against Coal - 2018-01-31. Photo credit: Rhonesha Victor.
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 ...

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

Westside Missionary Baptist Church, Oakland, California
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 ...

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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 ...

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Judge Close to Decision in Oakland Coal Ban Case

Rally outside pretrial hearing
United States District Judge Vince Chhabria is close to a decision in the case seeking to overturn the City of Oakland’s ban on coal storage and handling.

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Coal Case Judge Gets First Batch of Post-Trial Pleadings

Photo:  Oakland youth-led march against coal, 31 Jan 2018.  Credit: Rhonesha Victor.   In the first flurry of post-trial papers filed in federal court late last week, the two sides highlighted their dramatically different views of the case that will decide whether Oakland’s ban on coal storage and handling can be lawfully imposed on a proposed coal export terminal at the site of the former Oakland Army Base. On Friday, February 9, the parties filed an initial round of documents urging federal judge Vince Chhabria to decide the case of Oakland Bulk and ...

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Oakland youth march for a coal-free future

Organized and led by youth activist Mykela Patton of Oakland Tech, a spirited group of young people marched from the Emiliano Zapata Street Academy high school through downtown Oakland. With drums, tamborines, kazoos, and their voices they protested the dire pollution threatened by Phil Tagami's effort to bring coal from Utah to the Oakland waterfront. The young people were joined by about a dozen elder supporters, all marching against coal. The group of about fifty gathered at Oscar Grant plaza for their rally after marching around Phil Tagami's Rotunda building ...

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Coal Trial Ends: Undecided, Judge Awaits Post-Trial Briefs and Final Argument

Supporter of City of Oakland carries "Coal Kills" sign
Post-Trial Briefing Schedule Order The three-day trial of developer Phil Tagami’s lawsuit against the City of Oakland ended Friday without a clear signal from Judge Vince Chhabria as to how he will rule. Chhabria’s ruling is not expected until after he has had a chance to review posttrial briefs and other papers to be filed by the parties in the coming weeks and holds a final hearing tentatively set for March 28. The City made its case Friday calling a number of expert witnesses to rebut the plaintiff’s contentions that the City breached a 2013 development ...

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City Bats Next in Coal Terminal Trial

Signs of our times, courthouse rally, 2018-01-10. Photo credit: Jahahara Alkebulan-Maat.
Judge Challenges City to Explain Health Conclusions Without Air Quality Modeling Judge Vince Chhabria ended day two of the Oakland coal trial by challenging the City to show how it reached conclusions about air quality impacts in the health of residents in West Oakland without doing modelling that would quantify the likely concentration of pollutants in neighborhood air that would result from coal handling at the proposed West Gateway coal terminal. After a day off from trial, the City will begin presentation of its case on Friday at 10 a.m. and hopes to call Dr. ...

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Coal Trial Gets Underway in S.F. Federal Court

Courthouse demonstration
Before the trial got underway, the judge reiterated his guidance from last week’s summary judgment hearing: “The question in this case is whether substantial evidence supports the City’s decision. It either does or it doesn’t.”

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