A controversial Oakland port development moves forward after city loses ‘coal war’
OAKLAND City representatives have granted permits to an East Bay developer seeking to build a large marine terminal at the Port of Oakland raising a white flag that may signal the end of a longstanding coal war The permits merely involve the construction of specific fencing along a side road at the former Oakland Army Base where developer Phil Tagami s harbor terminal is planned to be built But they mark the first time he has received approval of any kind for the project since Related Articles How the US ended up with radioactive shrimp and sneakers Costly repairs could make an East Bay port an economic engine Over the program of a decade the city has lost multiple lawsuits and subsequent appeals to Tagami in both county and federal courts The city s efforts to halt the project have been cheered on by environmentalists in West Oakland who worry that large quantities of coal stored at the terminal would further harm the area s air quality which has already suffered from industrial engagements Now the city s top staffer noted Tagami s firm Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal LLC will be treated like any other developer that comes into the city At this point it s just another advance project City Administrator Jestin Johnson commented in an interview The city has exercised all its legal options The word coal he added did not even come up during a newest meeting between the administrator and Tagami Whether the eventual -acre terminal literally ships coal at all would likely be determined by Insight Terminal Solutions the company that owns a sublease at the site Phil Tagami Oakland developer and Chief Executive Officer of California Capital Outlay Group and Principal and Executive of Concord First Partners heads back to his seat during their Naval Weapons Station growth presentation before the Concord City Council in Concord Calif on Saturday Jan Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group Tagami for his part insists that sphere factors will guide which bulk commodities arrive by train through other Bay Area cities and stored at the outer harbor before they are shipped overseas to Asia In the past West Oakland s environmentalists rallied the city s leaders to oppose the planned project noting research that shows the rate of hospitalizations from asthma are higher in the area than anywhere else in Alameda County These days Oakland s leaders may have more at stake A bankruptcy court judge in Kentucky ruled in October that the city may owe hundreds of millions of dollars to Insight Terminal Solutions which went under amid the city s various legal fights against the terminal Weeks later however a U S district judge in Kentucky vacated the previous ruling determining a bankruptcy judge lacked the authority to make a final judgment against the city Judge Benjamin Beaton wrote that he will consider both Insight Terminal Solutions defense of the previous ruling and the city s disagreements with it during the next phase of this litigation It is familiar territory for Oakland which unsuccessfully sought to ban coal from town last decade inviting a federal lawsuit from Tagami A judge ruled in his favor in Insight Terminal Solutions was picked up by private-equity executives Jon Brooks and Vikas Tandon in during the company s bankruptcy proceedings The pair began negotiating a compromise with the city that would have precluded coal from being shipped from the terminal West Side Missionary Baptist Church pastor and founder of the Interfaith Council of Alameda County Ken Chambers speaks before members of the district during the No Coal in Oakland rally at West Side Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland Calif on Saturday July The event was organized by No Coal in Oakland Interfaith Council of Alameda County and Care Group Action groups Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group But the talks fell apart for reasons that never became population leading Oakland to lose a second suit to Tagami in the Alameda County Superior Court after city leaders attempted to nix the developer s ground lease Time and again the city has been haunted by its original sin approving a lease at the Army Base without securing any written agreement that coal would not be stored there Tagami revealed Wednesday that other permits required to begin construction on the terminal are not discretionary which means city executives could not legally reject them for political reasons You pay the fee you submit the appropriate documentation and you get the permits Tagami disclosed He estimated constructing the eventual terminal will cost between million and million though he acknowledged that range is more of a wild guess than a calculation Ted Franklin an environmental activist noted Tuesday his group No Coal in Oakland will openly lobby against private sector investments in the terminal s construction The whole idea that there is a region for seaborne coal is highly suspect Franklin reported He pointed to retaliatory Chinese tariffs that have throttled coal imports from the U S amid the country s agreement war with President Donald Trump Barges are seen on the waterfront near Burma Road in West Oakland Calif on Tuesday Jan Jane Tyska Bay Area News Group Wolverine Fuels a Utah-based coal company that could one day emerge as one of the Oakland terminal s suppliers was having trouble finding enough people to staff a coal mine there the High Country News published last year Meanwhile several high-profile coal-mining efforts across the country have fallen flat including one bid in Montana that valued the commodity at just one-tenth a penny per ton In Oakland city bureaucrats may resolve to watch the calendar Tagami now has a deadline of two-and-a-half years to begin construction on the terminal The Associated Press contributed to this review Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland Call or text him at - - or email him at shomik bayareanewsgroup com
