Enewsletter for June 2020

Baykeeper has been fighting coal pollution on multiple fronts in the Bay Area. Last year we helped local community groups stop a proposal to build a new cement slag terminal in Vallejo that was rumored to be a coal industry initiative to increase toxic coal exports out of San Francisco Bay.  

Earlier this year, we helped pass a new ban on coal in Richmond, which is home to the Levin Terminal. Levin handles one million tons of coal each year, right next to residential communities and the Bay's shoreline. Dirty fuel interests with deep pockets are suing to stop Richmond from enacting the ban. But we're working hard with our partners and city officials to make sure the ban stays in place—and you can add your voice of support, too. 

Meanwhile in Oakland, we're working to stop a new, massive coal terminal that would process up to 10 million tons of coal a year. The site sits at the foot of the Bay Bridge in West Oakland, an area already afflicted with very high pollution levels. Unfortunately, a recent decision from the Ninth Circuit sided with terminal developer. But the battle isn’t over, and we intend to move forward with our partners to support the city’s ban on toxic coal. 

Photo of the Levin Terminal by Baykeeper, thanks to LightHawk Conservation Flying

Baykeeper Executive Director Sejal Choksi-Chugh was recently honored at the Bay Nature Local Hero Awards ceremony for her work as a “guardian of the health of San Francisco Bay” with a Conservation Action Award.

Bay Nature highlighted Sejal’s pioneering leadership to prevent increased coal exports and oil tankers on the Bay, as well as Baykeeper’s battle against the EPA’s attempt to exempt the Bay from Clean Water Act protections.

You can watch Sejal’s presentation about what makes Baykeeper unique, along with presentations from her fellow awardees—John Muir Laws, Vincent Medina, and Avalon Qian—on Bay Nature’s website. 

Earlier this year, Baykeeper advocated for Oakland's Measure Q, which was intended to provide funding for parks and recreation, public works, and services for the city's homeless population. Measure Q passed, and we counted it as a victory. But then, Baykeeper staff was outraged to discover that the Oakland City Council decided to redirect Measure Q funding to pay for three police officer salaries, nearly $1 million, under the guise of homelessness outreach.

This was not the measure's voter-approved purpose—and Baykeeper, along with many other community groups, pushed back. "It is an injustice to the Oakland community to deprive these other vital departments of their funding in order to unnecessarily increase the police department’s budget in a manner that fails to meet the intent of Measure Q," Baykeeper Legal Fellow Kayla Karimi wrote in comments submitted to the city council.

We're happy to report that the pushback was successful. On June 23, the Oakland City Council announced that Measure Q funding that had been earmarked for additional police funding would instead be used to help homeless people with sanitation and other services, in keeping with the measure's original spirit.

Photo of Lake Merritt by Fragmentary Evidence, Flickr/CC

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we and our supporters have been posting photos of San Francisco Bay, with the hashtag #beautifulSFBay, to keep up our spirits and stay connected to the natural healing power of the Bay.

Captain Heather Richard, who is also a volunteer skipper for Baykeeper, took a video of a curious “sea puppy” in Sausalito. Click the photo below to visit her Instagram post—and feel free to tag us in your own photos of the Bay on Instagram and Twitter.