Community Members Protest Coal Transport Through West Oakland
On Tuesday, February 16th, community members gathered outside of Oakland’s City Hall to protest coal potentially being transported through West Oakland by Prologis CCIG Oakland Global, LLC. Brittany King was outside with the SF Bay chapter of the Sierra Club.
“Tonight’s city council is going to vote whether or not to hire a consultant to review testimony and documents that they received on September 21st at another hearing. We want to ban coal from coming through the city of Oakland. We believe that West Oakland already has enough health effects and coal is just as bad for the health and safety of the workers and the broader community in West Oakland and in East Oakland.”
Inside, waiting for the council meeting to start, West Oakland resident Mack McCon expressed health concerns for neighborhood children.
“We’re here today to protest and hope that they don’t bring that stuff in. We have a lot of children out there in Oakland West, they’re all different colors-- white, Mexican, black, Filipino. We’re just trying to make sure that nobody don’t get sick. So I hope this meeting tonight will help us not bring the coal into Oakland.”
The City Council heard testimony, but postponed their vote until a later date.
Katherine Rae Mondo