Oakland Army Base

Redevelopment, Yes!
Coal exports out of
Oakland, NO!
Two Potential Coal Export Facilities in Oakland
Oakland Army Base Redevelopment (OARB) Project Berth 7
Developer Phil Tagami is telling certain people that the bulk facility will include coal
but has not been forthright with community leaders when asked about this prospect.
OARB is moving ahead and is well into permitting. The CEQA documents do not
mention coal, and the Port staff indicates that they see huge community opposition
associated with coal. We need to prove them right! 1
Port of Oakland Berth 33 Bulk Terminal
This project would potentially bring 2.5-9 Million Tons of product though Oakland a
year. That means about 8-24 trains a week or 1-4 trains /day. A feasibility study for a
bulk terminal was completed in 2012 with the potential developers being the Port of
Oakland, Manyuan Coal (China), Kevin Swope, or possibly Metro Ports. We need to
tell them that coal is not an acceptable commodity for Oakland!
Where would the coal come from?
Coal trains originating from the Powder River Basin (PRB) or the Utah/Colorado
Region will potentially pass through many communitiespossibly Sacramento,
Richmond, Stockton, Pittsburg, Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Modestobefore
reaching the Port of Oakland or OARB.2
Why is coal the wrong choice for Oakland?

1 City of Oakland is the lead agency for the project and the Port is a responsible agency,
2Burlington Northern Santa Fe Rail Map, October 29, 2013, http://www.bnsf.com/customers/pdf/maps/coal_energy.pdf
1

Coal Exports Would Negatively Impact Health, Safety, Air Quality, Traffic 3,
and the local Economy

West Oakland residents are already twice as likely to be hospitalized for

asthma and 3 times more likely to require an emergency room visit for asthma
than the average California resident.4 People residing near the Port of Oakland
had an elevated cancer risk factor of over 10 chances in a million due to diesel
particulate matter (PM) from Port operations. 5

Coal dust generated during loading and unloading of trains and ships would
increase particulate matter pollution. Health risks include decreased lung
capacity, increased childhood bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia,6 emphysema,
and heart disease.7
Businesses near the coal facility would suffer sight impacts, aesthetics, noise,
nuisance of coal dust, traffic, etc..10
Train traffic increases could be quite significant and entail many new mile-long
open top 120+ car coal trains each day. Increased train movement and
switching operations across 7th Street would frequently block intersections
and would pose a safety concern for users of a nearby park.10
A coal export terminal (known generally as a bulk terminal) has many fewer
jobs than what are associated with container or bulk-break (big machines,
pallets) shipping. For instance, a Port of Seattle study found that 0.09 jobs per
1000 tons for bulk were needed vs. 0.57 for containers or 4.2 jobs for breakbulk.8

3 See Oakland Bulk Rail Terminal Feasibility Study, prepared for the Port of Oakland by Trans Systems,

September 7, 2012.

Obtained from the Port via a public records request.

4 Moxie Loeffler, D.O., MPH Candidate 2014, Alta Bates and Summit Asthma Burden 110313.pdf,
https://docs.google.com/a/sierraclub.org/viewer?
a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=1423001d3b0e3f14&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui
%3D2%26ik%3Dfe6bf6dd0a%26view%3Datt%26th%3D1423001d3b0e3f14%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26realattid
%3Df_hnp9o5rx0%26zw&sig=AHIEtbRO8CsQ77dEu8cioFATc3DYNYWMCQ

5Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, Neighborhood Knowledge for Change: The West
Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, January 2002, http://www.pacinst.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/02/neighborhood_knowledge_for_change3.pdf

6 Brook, Robert, et al, Particulate Matter Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease: An Update to the Scientific Statement of
the American Heart Association, May 2010.

7 Landen, Deborah, et al, Coal Dust Exposure and Mortality from Ischemic Heart Disease Among a Cohort of U.S. Coal
Miners, July 2011, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Vol. 53, Issue 10.

8See

http://www.sightline.org/research/energy/coal/coal-FAQ.pdf

Frequent coal train traffic and coal dust from trains, open coal storage
piles, coal loading/unloading at the Port or OARB would:
o Put the health and public safety of residents in West Oakland,
and all along the rail line, at risk.
o Discourage new and existing businesses from coming to the
area, and is in direct conflict with the West Oakland
Redevelopment project goal of providing environmentally sound
uses for the area. 9
o Encourage displacement of residents.
o Have a significant negative impact on the market property
values of home and businesses within the vicinity of the rail
line, which also equates to a tax revenue loss. In one study of
the impacts of a new coal export facility, those losses amounted
to at least $265 million in property values and an annual tax
revenue loss of more than $2.6 million.10

9The Redevelopment Agency of the City of Oakland, Redevelopment Plan for the West Oakland Redevelopment Project,
Adopted November 18, 2003, Amended through October 19, 2010,
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/ceda/documents/report/oak026353.pdf

10 See Eastman Property Value Study, October 12, 2012, http://www.coaltrainfacts.org/docs/Eastman-Study.pdf. Study
assumed a conservative 1% value loss for all structures within 600 ft of the rail tracks where coal would be shipped.