A state lawmaker is responding to President Donald Trump’s decision to fund a coal terminal in Oakland with legislation that could jam up the project.
Assemblymember Mia Bonta introduced a bill on Monday that would require a full environmental impact report before any local agency may approve a new or expanded coal terminal with a capacity exceeding 5 million short tons per year. The bill would also require a new environmental review when the type or quantity of coal changes, or when the existing report is 10 or more years old.
Bonta said this would force the Oakland terminal developers to conduct a new environmental impact report because their existing review was completed over a decade ago, and doesn’t account for the type of coal now planned.
“The beautiful people of West Oakland, Alameda, and Emeryville have fought for clean air, for their children’s health, and for their right to breathe for generations. Donald Trump used a Cold War emergency law to try to override all of that. He will not succeed,” Bonta said in a press release.
The Cold War law she’s referring to is the Defense Production Act, a 1950 statute that gives the president broad powers to set national industrial policies and fund projects in the name of military preparedness.
Bonta told The Oaklandside a new environmental study is also warranted because there has been additional scientific research into the potential health risks of coal dust since the last report. This includes a 2023 peer-reviewed study about the impact of coal trains moving through Richmond.
“We’re proud of the decades of hard work we and our neighbors have invested to clean up West Oakland’s air,” Veronica Eady, executive director of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, said in a statement. “We’re not going to let this coal facility move forward without a thorough examination of how it might impact our health and drag our progress backward.”
On June 4, Trump announced plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in coal plants and facilities across the country, including $75 million for the construction of a marine export terminal in Oakland. Trump said the Oakland terminal would ship 12 million tons of “clean beautiful coal” from Utah, Wyoming, and other western states to Asian markets.
Bonta and other Bay Area leaders quickly objected to Trump’s plan. Congresswoman Lateefah Simon said she was “unequivocally opposed” to the decision. On Tuesday, she filed an amendment to an energy and water appropriations bill that would block the use of funds for coal projects, including the one in Oakland. That bill is expected to be considered in the House of Representatives next week.
Several environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, shared concerns about how coal dust will impact West Oakland, which has dealt with significant air pollution for decades.
“I don’t believe we should have Oakland continue to be the dumping ground for toxic chemicals in our state,” Bonta told The Oaklandside.
The developer of the project, Oakland Bulk Oversized Terminal, has been trying to build a marine export terminal for over a decade. Litigation by the city stalled the project, but in 2023 an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled that Oakland had breached its agreement with the developer. The judge gave the developer the right to exercise their lease at the West Gateway site near the former Oakland Army Base. Oakland fought this decision but fully exhausted its options last year when the California Supreme Court declined to review the case.
According to a filing published by the Department of Energy, the Oakland coal terminal would initially handle 9-10 million tons of coal per year. The proposed terminal is also equipped to unload heavy trains and “store coal in on-site bulk storage sheds.”
Insight Terminal Solutions, which has a sublease to develop the terminal, plans to finalize the design, secure outstanding permits, and complete the terminal construction to allow cargo shipments by the end of 2028, according to the Department of Energy. Insight is also currently suing the city in federal court for allegedly driving the company into bankruptcy.
The department characterized investment in this project as “paramount to national security.”
“By facilitating access to international markets for U.S. coal, the project helps prevent the closure of domestic coal mines by growing demand,” the department said in a statement.
Tagami did not respond to an interview request.