OAKLAND, Calif.—Community environmental groups are intensifying efforts to organize resistance after President Donald Trump announced last week that the federal government will invest $700 million to boost the coal industry in the U.S., including $75 million to build the long-delayed West Oakland Coal Terminal.
In remarks last Thursday at a press conference at the White House, Trump relied on an old law, the Defense Production Act, as the basis for the investment, with the bulk of the money—$425 million—going to support 13 existing coal plants across the country.
“Starting this summer, the West Gateway project [in West Oakland] will break ground, and by summer 2028, over 12 million tons of clean beautiful coal per year will be shipped to countries all around the world,” Trump said, referring to the $75 million earmarked for the Oakland project.
However, experts say there is no such thing as clean coal, according to ABC News. Coal emissions can “lead to health and environmental issues, including respiratory illness, lung disease, acid rain, smog, and neurological and developmental damage, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Rev. Dr. Ken Chambers, pastor of the West Side Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland for over 30 years, has a long history of community activism in support of the unhoused, promoting affordable housing and as a leader in the fight for No Coal in Oakland.
Pastor Chambers said he has long opposed the plan “to build out the coal terminal in West Oakland to distribute coal throughout the world.
“This project is just not suitable for the Bay Area,” said Chambers, who is founding president of the Interfaith Council of Alameda County. “It’s an environmental injustice on top of what West Oakland has already suffered.”
Continuing, he said “The Bay Area overwhelmingly doesn’t want it.”
According to Chambers, there is a realistic possibility of stopping the construction of developer Phil Tagami’s coal terminal because the project, which has been held up by community opposition for over a decade, will need a total investment of between $350 million and $400 million for infrastructure and construction.
Trump’s $75 million will only pay a portion.
“Basically, it’s a bad business deal,” Chambers said. “They are trying to create something to sell that people don’t want. The people who live here, who are going to be directly affected, don’t want it.
“Coal is a dying industry,” he said. “It’s a huge investment for something that doesn’t have a future. As we get smarter as humanity, we want to live healthier and save our environment.”
Coal at one time provided more than half of U.S. electricity production, but its share has dropped to about 15% in 2024, down from 45% in 2010, according to the Associated Press.
While global coal demand rose to record highs in recent years, it is expected to flatten and decline in the future, according to the International Energy Agency.
U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, in a press release last Thursday, said she was “unequivocally opposed” to the decision to spend millions on “projects that move us backward,” when communities need clean air and water.
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, a ranking member in the House Committee on Natural Resources, accused the Trump administration of building coal plants to benefit Big Tech, when wind and solar can produce more power.
“Trump just handed the dying coal industry $700 million in taxpayer money, and Americans will pay for it twice—once on their taxes, and again when their energy bills climb, their air gets dirtier, and their water gets less safe to drink,” Huffman said in a news release.
“All to prop up the dirtiest, most expensive fuel we have, a relic the rest of the world is leaving behind,” he added.
Trump’s announcement prompted anger from environmental groups. Kit Kennedy, a managing director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Bloomberg, “Propping up coal billionaires with taxpayer money is one more way for the Trump administration to put polluters first and put the rest of us at risk.”
Local groups—the Sierra Club, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, and Earthjustice—are also speaking out.
The Sierra Club said Trump’s executive orders on coal “will lead to thousands of premature deaths and hundreds of millions in unnecessary utility costs across the country.”
Organizing a community-wide resistance coalition, No Coal in Oakland said in a press release, “This is an all-hands-on deck moment. This nightmare project of local developer Phil Tagami, the coal industry, and Donald Trump can be derailed.
“No Coal in Oakland and our many allies in the Keep Coal Out Coalition are organizing grassroots resistance. Please join a community meeting on Thursday June 25, 7-8:30 pm at La Peña at 3105 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley.”
For more information go to https://nocoalinOakland.info
This article originally appeared in The Oakland Post. It is reprinted here with permission.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
