The City Council in Oakland, California took its first, substantive steps toward banning the handling and storage of coal in the city.
"The Oakland City Council in a special meeting Monday night [June 27] voted 7-0 in favor of an ordinance banning the handling and storage of coal in the city," reports Ian Cull. The ban "effectively [derails] a plan to build a marine terminal that would serve as a gateway for Utah-mined coal heading to Asia."
The proposal terminal would have been located in West Oakland, which ranks "among the poorest and most polluted neighborhoods in the region," according to Cull, thus the decision's significance to environmental justice.
The June 27 vote was the first reading of the ordinance. According to Cull, "the second reading will be at the council's regular meeting July 19."
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