{"id":415967,"date":"2025-12-04T10:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=415967"},"modified":"2025-12-04T10:05:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:05:19","slug":"oaklands-reckless-climate-crusade-against-coal-exports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=415967","title":{"rendered":"Oakland\u2019s Reckless Climate Crusade against Coal Exports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Aerial<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by<\/strong> Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t Charles Park<\/a> \u2013 A judge just cancelled an enormous judgement against the City of Oakland in California \u2013 but the reprieve may be temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Oakland might not owe coal company hundreds of millions after new court ruling<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal judge in Kentucky ruled a bankruptcy court\u2019s judgment, which could have put the city on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars, was improper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Eli Wolfe<\/a><\/strong> Nov. 24, 2025, 4:37 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things were looking bleak for Oakland last month after a Kentucky bankruptcy judge ruled<\/a> that Oakland interfered with a coal developer\u2019s efforts to build an export terminal, forcing them into insolvency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judgment put Oakland on the hook for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in damages \u2013 money the cash-strapped city would have virtually no way of covering without asking voters to approve new bond measures. It also handed a major victory to the coal company, Insight Terminal Solutions. On Monday, the New York Times <\/a>published a gloomy article speculating that Oakland was headed toward bankruptcy. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

But the city won a reprieve on Friday after a federal district judge who reviewed the case found that the bankruptcy court overstepped its authority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a two-page order<\/a>, Judge Benjamin Beaton ruled that the bankruptcy court lacked authority to enter a final judgment on core disputes in the case. He also found that the judgment only dealt with liability, not damages, which means that it wasn\u2019t really a \u201cfinal\u201d judgment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakland lost<\/a> its other legal battle with developer Phil Tagami, who leads OBOT. A state court granted OBOT the right to keep and extend its lease to the city-owned land to restart the terminal project. Next Tuesday, the City Council will approve a partial settlement<\/a> to pay OBOT $700,000 in attorney\u2019s fees and costs. The city has also agreed to perform \u201ccertain administrative items\u201d relating to the construction and development of the terminal. 

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/oaklandside.org\/2025\/11\/24\/oakland-coal-company-bankruptcy-judgment-vacated\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Reading the rest of the article, the original judgement could have forced the city to issue bonds to cover their own recklessness. But the battle doesn\u2019t appear to be over yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakland\u2019s attempt to overturn their own lease to the coal terminal company signed in 2013<\/a> led to a substantial corporate bankruptcy, Insight Terminal Solutions<\/a>, and the parties who took over the lease appear to be gearing up to recover costs and damages. In addition, Oakland\u2019s administration appears to have learned nothing \u2013 they appear intent on pursuing further legal action, legal action which could incur even greater costs for the residents of Oakland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city\u2019s climate crusade against coal appears to have substantial popular support from the residents of Oakland. I guess we\u2019ll see how strong that support is if the city of Oakland is forced to appeal to voters to help pay all the legal costs and adverse judgements which could be coming their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A judge just cancelled an enormous judgement against the City of Oakland in California \u2013 but the reprieve may be temporary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":415970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Discover Oakland's legal battle with coal companies and the implications of a recent court ruling that may prevent bankruptcy.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Oakland's Court Relief: A Temporary Win in Coal Battle","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI1XC8xMlwvMEFRT1lNMnZSVnZKOEtnNXhxYnlZUGpySEFaeWk3RS1vaUd2SDNQWTdKRHYxQ0dWMDlmQkhDZ0FXUTlZdUFUYm9kckdIdksxVXpRUS1SejU1cXZjOS1WQS1nbC0xVVFvR3NOVVJxUnR4NVhmWEdTNGIxNGZBWlpzQVdpWE9uVkdTLTItMTAyNHg2ODguanBlZyIsInR4dCI6Ik9ha2xhbmRcdTIwMTlzIFJlY2tsZXNzIENsaW1hdGUgQ3J1c2FkZSBhZ2FpbnN0IENvYWwgRXhwb3J0cyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNTU4MTI0NDl9.HcXlt_01TqZmqkW29X_tHGh8XSxEiJC11_vgzTXonjoMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818068,691839981,691824897,691819635,691839985,691839983,691839982,691839984],"class_list":{"0":"post-415967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-city-of-oakland","10":"tag-climate-crusade","11":"tag-coal","12":"tag-coal-terminal-company","13":"tag-judge-benjamin-beaton","14":"tag-kentucky-bankruptcy-judge","15":"tag-no-coal-in-oakland","17":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0AQOYM2vRVvJ8Kg5xqbyYPjrHAZyi7E-oiGvH3PY7JDv1CGV09fBHCgAWQ9YuATbodrGHvK1UzQQ-Rz55qvc9-VA-gl-1UQoGsNURqRtx5XfXGS4b14fAZZsAWiXOnVGS-2.jpeg?fit=1489%2C1000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Kd9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":418665,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=418665","url_meta":{"origin":415967,"position":0},"title":"Making 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