Cargo Business Newswire

Monday, April 27, 2015

Utah spends $53M to export coal through Port of Oakland

Since U.S. demand for coal is dwindling, Utah has approved a $53 million investment in an Oakland shipping terminal about to be built in order to export the commodity to less environmentally conscious markets overseas.

Terminal Logistics will start building the 35-acre, $250 million Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal at the Oakland Global Trade & Logistics Center later this year and is expected to finish the project in 2017. The move has angered environmental groups.

"We know Oakland doesn't want coal coming through the city," said Jess Dervin-Ackerman, conservation manager for the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club. "We're ramping down the

use of coal in the U.S. because we recognize it's a horrible source of pollution, and it contributes to climate change. This is city-owned land, and to us, it's the responsibility of the city to not let coal be exported."

But Phil Tagami, the city designated developer of the project, said his seven years of approvals and environmental entitlements secured to develop the former Oakland Army Base allows him to lease the space to a private company who can export just about anything except "nuclear waste, illegal immigrants, weapons and drugs."

For more of the Contra Costa story: www.contracostatimes.com