Katrina Booker, ILWU Local 10

Several ILWU representatives spoke against coal exports — but in favor of other bulk products — at the Oakland City Council on Sept 21. Katrina Booker, ILWU Local 10 longshorewoman, said she’d seen the negative health effects of coal and that developers should instead export cleaner, safer cargoes from the terminal.

Opposition to coal is mounting from public health experts, environmental groups and even some council members. But the company contracted to develop and operate a shipping terminal set to open near the east end of the Bay Bridge in 2018 is threatening to pull out if coal transportation is blocked in Oakland — and that could delay or hinder the $880 million, 366-acre development project.

The public has until 4 p.m. Monday to e-mail comments to Douglas Cole, who manages the Army Base Gateway Redevelopment Project for the city, at dcole@oaklandnet.com. City administrators will evaluate those comments — available on the city’s website — and present a status report to the council at the next public hearing on Oct. 20 at City Hall.

“We welcome the terminal, we’re just opposed to the coal,” said Derrick Muhammad of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. He said the plan in its current form requires workers to “sell their souls” for jobs.

Muhammad was one of many speakers who commended the overall project, but saw the coal shipping plan as a potential environmental disaster.

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