The Oakland, Calif. City Council passed an ordinance to ban the storage and handling of coal and coke at bulk terminals in the city, representing the latest blow to Terminal Logistics Solutions’ plan for a dry bulk terminal to handle coal and other goods.
The Oakland, Calif. City Council passed an ordinance Monday night to prohibit the storage and handling of coal and coke at bulk material terminals in the city.
The ordinance is the latest blow on plans to develop a dry bulk shipping terminal on city-owned property adjacent to the Port of Oakland where nearly all of Northern California’s containerized cargo is handled.
Earlier this month, the California State Senate voted 25-14 for a bill to require another environmental impact report for the proposed terminal, which Terminal Logistics Solutions (TLS) wants to construct. The bill is currently being considered in the California Assembly.
The terminal would create thousands of jobs in a city where unemployment is high and where housing costs are skyrocketing because of gentrification, according to TLS Chairman and CEO Jerry Bridges, who is the former executive director of both the Port of Oakland and the Virginia Port Authority.
“TLS obviously believes that the City of Oakland has made a serious mistake. TLS is weighing its options at the moment and will make a decision on how to proceed shortly,” Bridges said. “Of course we believe that the action taken by the council will have a chilling effect on the overall business environment and the economic development in the city.”
Strong opposition from environmental groups, which oppose the use of coal for health reasons or because of its contribution to greenhouse gases, has won support from local politicians.
On Monday, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Councilmember Dan Kalb announced the introduction of the amendment to Oakland’s municipal code that would prohibit the transport, transloading, handling and storage of coal and coke at bulk material facilities or terminals throughout Oakland.
Schaaf said it was “a false choice to say we have to pick between jobs and this community’s health and safety. We can, and we will do both.”
However, TLS said terminal objections due to concerns about coal dust escaping from the terminal or by trains carrying material to the terminal were misguided.
TLS said all of the products it planned to handle at the terminal would be stored in covered domes and that conveyors handling bulk material would be covered. The company planned to use rail hopper cars mounted with covers made by Ecofab to move the coal to prevent coal dust from escaping.
At a press conference last month, Bridges said he founded the company in 2013 “for the sole purpose of coming to Oakland to help create jobs.” The highly automated facility would have about 120 jobs within its 30-acre footprint, but would create about 2,500 secondary and tertiary jobs.
The terminal would create about 1,000 construction jobs over the 18 months or so that it would take to build and half those jobs would go to Oakland residents.
“One of the major focuses of this terminal will be to create jobs and economic empowerment for Oakland, particularly in West Oakland,” Bridges said. “It’s about keeping Oakland competitive on the global stage and investing in our working waterfront. It’s about encouraging African Americans to participate in this great resource Oakland has in its waterfront.”
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has opposed the terminal, and Bridges said the union had indicated it does not want to work the facility.
Physicians, clergymen and community leaders at last month’s press conference noted there was a strong need for more jobs in the crime-plagued city.
“I’ve studied this issue intensively, I’ve looked at the community impact report, I’ve looked at the Alameda County public health report and I’ve looked at the statistics on what we are and are not dying from,” said Dr. H. Geoffrey Watson. “The major public health problem here is lack of jobs, lack of income, not having the education that we need, and not having the schools and the living resources and access to health care.”
TLS wants to develop the $250 million Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal on a portion of the former Oakland Army Base to handle agriculture and mineral products.
When the base was shut down in 1993 as part of the base realignment and closure process, roughly half of the facility was turned over to the Port of Oakland and half was turned over to the City of Oakland.
The Port of Oakland is using its portion of the property for creating warehousing, rail siding and other facilities linked to container traffic.
Separately, the City of Oakland awarded a contract to develop the other half of the property to a joint venture between Prologis and California Capital and Investment Group. While some of the property is to be developed with warehouse and distribution buildings, railyards, a recycling facility and the bulk terminal were also planned.
Bridges said the letters of intent and agreement and understanding with three soda ash companies to export about 2.7-2.8 million tons of soda ash for the facility would be able to load up to capsize dry bulk vessels.
However, TLS had planned to build a terminal that would handle 6.5-9 million tons of various materials, and Bridges said it would be difficult for TLS to build a bulk terminal and then “turn our back” on coal, which represents about 50 percent of the bulk exports from the West Coast.
Oakland votes against coal handling at terminals
