Bay Area

Howard Terminal Designer’s Safety Warning Ignored By Port, City and Mayor: Part 1

“Think about human error in bringing [an Empire State Building-size ship of that size into the Port, and the potential with the turning basin located at the Howard Terminal, it just might bump into the Quay wall. The structural integrity of the Quay wall could be compromised. My concern is if the Quay wall fails, upon which the Howard Terminal is built, with three stories of bleachers built on top of it, say that container ship doesn’t stop in time and hits that Quay wall, we will have gantry cranes and possibly people in the water. If anything happens, I’m liable. You never do a project like that without bringing on the original designer. They didn’t do that.”

Published

3 years ago

April 21, 2022

Oakland Post

Fred Jordan, president of FEJA at Port of Oakland. Photo by Gene Hazzard.

By Tanya Dennis

The original designer of the Howard Terminal at the Port of Oakland says that for nearly a year, city officials have ignored his concerns about the potential impact the ballpark poses to residents and baseball fans.

On June 24, 2021, the Warren Law Firm sent a letter to Andreas Cluver, president of the Port of Oakland Commissioners, and David Kaval, president of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, regarding safety concerns the Howard Terminal original designers have regarding the proposed waterfront ballpark and apartment project.

F.E. Jordan Associates, Inc. (FEJA) is the prestigious design and civil/structural engineering firm that designed the Howard Terminal has regarding the Waterfront Ballpark project.

Copies of the letter were sent to Oakland City Council, Mayor Schaaf and Barbara J. Parker, Oakland’s City Attorney, and members of the City Council.

Neither Fred Jordan, president of FEJA, nor his counsel have yet to receive a response from Cluver, Kaval, Schaaf or the City Council.

Jordan, who holds three California state appointments including overseeing the nation’s largest project, the $105 billion California High Speed Rail Project, is not surprised. “This is pretty much status quo, they’re pushing it through, and politics are heavy! Everybody thinks it’s a good idea. I believe it’s more important to get these big ships in here to keep the supply chain for our country moving, and the integrity and future growth of the Port maintained. That’s more important than a ballpark.”

Howard Terminal as the potential site for the $12 billion project continues to go through the approval process, despite a change in the economic structure of the U.S. due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which created supply shortages worldwide.

Currently, ships are waiting for weeks to unload their cargo in Los Angeles, which could very well be the future of Oakland if the Waterfront Ballpark is built at Howard Terminal

Jordan has reached out to Port commissioners and the Oakland A’s three times requesting his firm be consulted or added as part of the evaluation team to assess the potential liability of building a ballpark on the structure his office designed, as his safety concerns are many.

“It’s common courtesy in the industry that the designer be consulted anytime structural changes to the original design are considered,” Jordan said. “The Port and Oakland A’s need to hear more intricacies about putting that ballpark on a container terminal. To ignore that could be disastrous in the future and could also lead to very high risk for any design professional and contractor associated with that terminal no matter how far they go back.”

When asked about his specific concerns, Jordan responded, “Think about an Empire-State- building-long container ship coming into the Port with four or five stories of containers stacked up.

“Think about human error in bringing a ship of that size into the Port, and the potential with the turning basin located at the Howard Terminal, it just might bump into the Quay wall. The structural integrity of the Quay wall could be compromised. My concern is if the Quay wall fails, upon which the Howard Terminal is built, with three stories of bleachers built on top of it, say that container ship doesn’t stop in time and hits that Quay wall, we will have gantry cranes and possibly people in the water. If anything happens, I’m liable. You never do a project like that without bringing on the original designer. They didn’t do that.”

Jordan’s second concern is the environmental impact the park will have not only on the Port but the community as well.

“The Environmental Impact Report is a huge issue and has to do with how the ballpark will socially, economically, and environmentally impact the health of Black folks with trucks lined up in their neighborhoods waiting to unload because of the park and access to the railroad.

“Many huge projects attempted in the past were thwarted because these very issues were not taken into consideration. Environmental reports consider the public trust and social impact of a project. I don’t trust the project because no one will talk to me about the structural integrity of what they’re planning, as our design was not a typical design,” he continued.

In his letter, Jordan has informed all concerned that the Waterfront draft EIR does not address the “structural engineering aspects” of locating a multi-story concrete stadium structure in proximity of the quay wall.

The quay wall is a 1,000-foot wharf structure supporting gantry cranes, the largest and tallest in the world. Jordan is also concerned about the soil surcharge, or whether the stadium structure will be on bedrock, friction piles or regular footings. Jordan needs answers, and more importantly, the people deserve the truth.

Next week: Part 2. Oakland Athletics Ballpark Project: “A Cautionary Tale: Developers, Environmental Impact Reports & the Howard Terminal.”

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

3 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.