Commentary

Time for the Mayor and the City to stop the Madness and Settle the Coal Dispute

A new developer, JMB Capital, has acquired the project and has offered to sit down with city officials to discuss the potential to not ship coal through the terminal despite having won the court fight over the matter. Unfortunately, officials in the Schaaf administration have not accepted invitations to meet and try to resolve the dispute.

Published

4 years ago

March 25, 2021

Kiki

We need the City Council to be the adults and step in to settle the controversy surrounding the Oakland Army Base once and for all.

For nearly a decade, the city has been fighting about the potential shipment of coal at a proposed bulk commodity terminal at the former Oakland Army Base, under a development agreement that it awarded to California Capital Investment Group (CCIG).

The consequences of failing to voluntarily settle the coal issue could be financially devastating for the city. Already, the federal courts have indicated that the city cannot deny the right to ship coal.

The United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a May 15, 2018 ruling by US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria that the city of Oakland failed to prove that the transportation of coal posed a health and safety hazard to residents. Judge Chhabria found that a report presented by the city’s expert consultants, Environmental Science Associates (ESA), was “riddled with inaccuracies, major evidentiary gaps, erroneous assumptions, and faulty analyses.”

Thus, it appears that the city has already lost on the issue of whether it has the right to ban coal. Now the city attorney and city administration hang their hats on a sketchy pending state court case where they argue that the master lessee of the property, CCIG, lost the lease because they failed to commence construction of the terminal within the timeframe specified in the development agreement.

The likelihood of the city prevailing on that argument is very slim. The City caused a delay in the completion of the terminal when they denied CCIG’s permits to resume construction and then claimed that the developer did not act in a timely manner. Now the developer asserts it is ludicrous for the city to claim that it did not act in a timely manner.

I do not understand the city’s refusal to welcome a chance to resolve the issues short of a court decision. If Oakland loses, the terminal will be allowed to ship as much coal as it can handle over the next 66 years. In addition, the city likely will be on the hook for millions of dollars in losses caused by their dilatory maneuvers. More important, the proposed terminal is a major revenue producer for the city and will create hundreds of jobs handling non-coal commodities and products and related financial benefits. As the city dawdles, Oakland residents lose.

By entering into a discussion with JMB Capital it could lead to a no coal agreement that gets the terminal built. But, by refusing to talk it could lead to unlimited coal shipments and significant financial losses. Why, then, doesn’t the city meet and try to come to a no coal agreement?

Some suggest the problem is the Mayor’s ego and a desire for revenge, or her plans for future political positioning. In reality, it doesn’t matter. Under the city charter, the City Council holds the ultimate power to decide whether to settle and resolve the issues on terms most favorable to the city.

As I see it, if the city meets with the developer and reaches a no coal agreement, everyone benefits. But if the city doesn’t even try, and the courts rule against the city, the result will likely be a loss that the city will suffer for the next 66 years.

I urge the City Council to intervene and stop the nonsense. It has the duty and authority to protect the city from major losses and take advantage of a golden opportunity it seems determined to ignore. Please end the madness and direct the City Administrator to negotiate a no coal settlement in good faith and get this case behind us.

Do it now, because if the city leaves it to the courts to decide, and they lose, there will be nothing left to negotiate after a court decision is made. Oakland residents will be stuck with the results of the city’s refusal to meet for decades to come.

Kiki

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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6 days ago

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

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Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
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“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.