US judge scraps Oakland, California, ban on coal shipments

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge in California has struck down the city of Oakland’s ban on coal shipments through its port.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria on Tuesday sided with a developer who wants to use a proposed marine terminal to transport coal from Utah to Asia.

Chhabria said the City Council did not have enough evidence that the coal operations would pose a substantial health or safety danger.

City leaders approved the rail and marine terminal in 2013 as part of a makeover of a shuttered Army base.

But they voted to ban shipments of coal and petroleum coke, a solid derived from oil refining.

The $250 million terminal is in west Oakland, a historically African-American neighborhood that is among the poorest and most polluted in the region.