October 12, 2026 - The more than decade-long fight against a coal line, led by California coalition Keep Coal Out, has just progressed after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that would require the state to prepare a new environmental impact report before a potential coal terminal could be built in Oakland.

The bill, Assembly Bill 40, does not ban the building of a coal terminal in Oakland, but aims to set up a path to limit the amount of pollution the line would emit if built. Additionally, the bill aims to inform lead agencies that could approve the line on the potential public health risk that would occur as a result.

Oakland developer Phil Tagami has led plans to build a coal terminal in Oakland for more than a decade. The terminal would receive coal from Utah by train and act as a midway point to export coal to Asia. Community members rallied against the proposal, setting off a decade-long fight over coal policy that continues to this day.

The outcry against coal mainly revolves around public health and climate change concerns.

“If (people have) heard of it, they’re against it, and if they haven’t heard of it, all you really need to say is ‘They’re planning a coal terminal,’ and people are like, ‘Wait, what? We don’t want that,’” saidClara Weinstein, the communications manager for the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project. “So really it’s about getting out the word that this could actually happen and that there are ways people can take action.”

The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project has had a major role in the Keep Coal Out coalition, alongside other groups such as No Coal in Oakland and Earthjustice.

No Coal in Oakland’s push to get AB 40 signed by Newsom included voter mobilization campaigns and speaking at environmental committees in the state Senate to testify for the bill, according to No Coal in Oakland co-coordinator Margaret Rossoff.

Other groups, such as the Coalition for Clean Air, have brought together organizers from across California to protest the building of the coal line, which would affect every community the rail line would pass through, according to Bill Magavern, a policy director at the Coalition for Clean Air.

“Coal use is declining in the U.S. because it can’t compete with lower-cost renewables like solar and wind. So what we’re seeing is the Trump administration wasting a lot of taxpayer money, desperately trying to prop up the coal industry, including through this Oakland terminal,” Magavern said. “So, bottom line, greed and stupidity are what is driving this.”

Developers for the coal line received partial funding from President Donald Trump’s administration, but will have to rely on private investors to complete the project, according to Rossoff.

“An environmental review was really crucial, but we’re also just rolling up our sleeves because we know that this is not the endpoint. This is just another step,” Weinstein said. “The environmental review process is going to be long. It’s hopefully going to be really thorough, and we’re going to be there every step of the way, making sure that it’s happening in a fair way that really reflects the real cost of the coal terminal.”