OAKLAND, CA –– On Thursday, October 26, just twelve days before the November General Election, No Coal in Oakland, a grassroots coalition of community, faith, and environmental justice groups will hold a rally to denounce an attempt by would-be coal terminal developers to influence the Oakland mayor’s race with over half a million dollars of out-of-town, toxic money. Our coalition reaffirms our commitment to resist any effort to build a coal terminal in West Oakland and to protect our community from attacks on our health and well-being.
This summer, only a few months after City Attorney Barbara Parker’s announcement that a deal was in the works to end the lawsuit over the West Gateway terminal that would ensure a no coal future, the developers backed out of settlement negotiations. Last week, the Los Angeles-based financier, Jonathan Brooks, contributed another $250,000 to an Independent Expenditure Committee supporting Ignacio De La Fuente in his bid for mayor, seemingly because of his support for the construction of a coal terminal. The construction of a coal terminal would inflict further harm on Oakland, a town that has a history of redlining, environmental injustice, and structural racism that has disproportionately harmed Black and Brown communities and youth.
It should alarm all Oakland voters that a total of $550,000 of coal-related money has been spent by one LA financier in a seeming attempt to pressure candidates running for office. Oakland residents will elect our next mayor in less than two weeks and the public must be aware of any effort by out-of-town, would-be polluters to influence local elections and ongoing litigation with the City. With the future of our city’s air quality and the West Oakland community once again at stake,No Coal in Oakland will rally to maintain that Oakland’s public health can’t be bought off – no coal, not now, not ever.
What: Rally to denounce Oakland coal terminal developer’s financial dumping in Oakland politics
When: Thursday, October 27 at 4:00 PM
Where: Rotunda Building, 300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612
Who: Speakers include:
Margaret Gordon, No Coal in Oakland
Igor Tregub, Sierra Club
Julia Dowell, SF Baykeeper
Representatives of 350 Bay Area, Youth vs. Apocalypse, Communities for a Better Environment, and SEIU 1021
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