From: Margaret Rossoff (OccupyOakland.org)
The campaign to keep coal out of Oakland is entering a new phase. While the years-long legal wrangling grinds on, it’s time to send a loud-and-clear message to a brand new coal-conspirator on the scene—hedge fund tycoon Jon Brooks, whose shell company, Insight Terminal Solutions (ITS), acquired the West Gateway sublease in bankruptcy court. Recently, ITS filed a frivolous lawsuit against the City of Oakland claiming losses of over a billion dollars stemming from the City’s termination of Phil Tagami’s lease in 2018.
Please add your name to NCIO’s Open Letter telling Jon Brooks to abandon his plans to ship coal through Oakland.
Recent scientific research validates our certainty that coal would savage the health and safety of residents and workers anywhere in breathing range of daily, mile-long coal trains spilling toxic dust across the East Bay, impacting those who live and work in West Oakland most severely. And we know coal generates more planet-warming carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels: burning coal anywhere on the planet is destructive to the Earth and to our collective future.
That’s why we are asking for signatures to an Open Letter to Jon Brooks, calling for his commitment to keep coal out of Oakland. Stand with co-sponsoring organizations No Coal in Oakland, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Youth vs. Apocalypse, Interfaith Council of Alameda County, Sierra Club Bay Area, SF Baykeeper, West Oakland Neighbors, 350 Bay Area, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Physicians for Social Responsibility-SF Bay Area, No Coal in Richmond, and Sunflower Alliance.
Please sign on here now!
A quick refresher:
Local developer Phil Tagami has been angling to build a coal terminal next to the Bay Bridge toll plaza for nearly ten years now, at the West Gateway site on the former Oakland Army Base. In 2016 the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to ban the storage and handling of coal in the city, including at the proposed marine terminal on the city’s waterfront. Tagami sued the City in Federal court, then filed another suit in Alameda County Superior Court weeks after the City of Oakland announced imminent termination of Tagami’s lease for non-performance of contractual obligations. The matter remains tied up in state court: the court ruled that Tagami can proceed with West Gateway development, but the City is appealing. A hedge fund whose owner acquired the West Gateway sublease in bankruptcy court has signaled he’s leaning into coal terminal development by filing another suit against the City in March 2024.
