The Richmond City Council just signed an agreement that will keep coal out of the city permanently—a move that Baykeeper has fought for long and hard. We worked with partners and local activists in Richmond to develop the original ban a few years ago, and then we provided expert legal advice after the fossil fuel industry took the city to court over the ban.
Despite the industry’s legal backlash, Richmond’s only coal export facility, Levin Terminal, has now agreed to put an end to its toxic shipments. Each year, Levin and the fossil fuel industry move more than a million tons of coal and petcoke, an oil refinery by-product, through Bay Area neighborhoods and onto ships that travel across the Bay and ocean. The operations pollute the air and water—and burning dirty fuels like petcoke add to the climate crisis.
"This agreement is a win for the Bay and the people of the Bay Area, and we hope that other cities plagued by fossil fuel pollution will follow Richmond's brave lead," says Baykeeper Executive Director Sejal Choksi-Chugh.
