Amended in Senate March 30, 2016

Senate Bill No. 1277

Introduced by Senator Hancock

February 19, 2016

An act relating to ports and harbors.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1277, as amended, Hancock. Ports and harbors: City of Oakland: coal shipment.

Existing law regulates the operation of ports and harbors. The Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1B) created the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund and provided for allocation by the California Transportation Commission of $2 billion in bond funds for infrastructure improvements on highway and rail corridors that have a high volume of freight movement, and specified categories of projects eligible to receive these funds, including projects to enhance the capacity and efficiency of ports.

This bill would prohibit the shipment of coal to, or through, a certain port facility located in the former Oakland Army Base that has been funded in part by the proceeds of Proposition 1B.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Oakland.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(1) The City of Oakland has received substantial funding from
the California Transportation Commission for the development of
the Bulk and Oversized Terminal at the former Oakland Army
Base. The funding has been provided from the proceeds of bonds
sold pursuant to the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air
Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006 (Chapter 12.49
(commencing with Section 8879.20) of Division 1 of Title 2 of
the Government Code).

(2) According to the Legislative Analyst’s analysis of the
Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security
Bond Act of 2006, one of the goals of the act was to provide
funding to projects to “improve air quality by reducing emissions
related to goods movement.”

(3) In the agreement between the City of Oakland and a private
developer for a project that includes the development of the Bulk
and Oversized Terminal, paragraph D of the Recitals states that
“the development of the project will provide many benefits to the
City and the public including but not limited to: (1) mitigate or
avoid potential significant environmental impacts; ... .” In
paragraph 3.4.2 of that agreement, the City of Oakland reserves
the right to apply regulations adopted after the effective date of
the agreement if the city finds failure to apply those regulations
“would place existing or future occupants or users of the Project,
adjacent neighbors, or any portion thereof, or all of them, in a
condition substantially dangerous to their health or safety.”

(4) There is a proposal to export coal from the Bulk and
Oversized Terminal.

(5) Coal export poses unique and substantial dangers to citizens
in adjacent neighborhoods, workers at the site, and to the Oakland
community as a whole.

(6) Assuming that 10.5 million tons of coal is shipped annually,
as much as 646 tons per year of fugitive coal dust may be generated
by the movement of coal through the port facility.

(7) Coal dust poses serious health concerns for a neighborhood
already burdened with a history of environmental injustices and
ill equipped to cope with additional stresses.

(8) The American Lung Association considers coal dust a source
of particulate matter that is dangerous to breathe.

(9) The World Health Organization cites coal dust, along with
silica and asbestos, as responsible for most occupational lung
diseases due to airborne particulate.

(10) The United States Environmental Protection Agency cites
numerous scientific studies that link particulate matter with a series
of significant health problems, including premature death in people
with lung or heart disease, nonfatal heart attacks, irregular
heartbeat, aggravated asthma, decreased lung function, and
increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the airways,
coughing, or difficulty in breathing.

(11) There are no proven topping agents that have demonstrated
effectiveness at reducing coal dust over long trips.

(12) Confined or covered coal transportation and terminal
operations would shift the burden of toxic pollution to workers at
the site while also exacerbating risks of fire during transport,
storage, and loading.

(13) “Covered” and “clean” coal operations raise significant
safety concerns for workers related to the increased likelihood of
coal combustion when it is confined. Trains often have open-top
cars as a technique to mitigate the chances of fires by allowing
heat to escape. If these train cars and warehouse spaces are covered
then risk of fire is likely to be higher.

(14) Coal transport, warehousing, and loading operations will
increase worker exposure to coal dust due to inherent jostling of
the commodity. Covering and confining the coal export terminal
and its operations will only exacerbate these problems because
dust will be more concentrated within the workspace.

(15) Coal presents transportation concerns because the weight
of the trains increases stress on tracks and slows traffic, and
because the dust damages rail tracks.

(16) Coal dust and leachates can pollute waterways, often with
long-lasting impacts.

(17) The community of West Oakland, which is near the Bulk
and Oversized Terminal, is already heavily and adversely impacted
by goods movements through the community.

(18) The California Environmental Protection Agency, using
the California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool
(CalEnviroScreen), a tool that assesses all census tracts in
California, has identified the community of West Oakland as a
disadvantaged community disproportionately burdened by, and
vulnerable to, multiple sources of pollution.

(19) The residents of West Oakland breathe air containing three
times the amount of diesel particulate matter than in other begin delete part end delete
begin insert parts end insert of the San Francisco Bay area, which translates to a 2.5 times
greater risk of cancer. Children in West Oakland suffer from
ailments like asthma at higher rates than children in other
neighborhoods.

(20) The residents of West Oakland are two times more likely
to go to a hospital emergency room with asthma as compared to
residents in other parts of the County of Alameda. According to
the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, in
2009, for every 10,000 visits, 183 visits in West Oakland were due
to asthma, whereas the statewide average is 48 visits. Those
residents are also more likely to die of illnesses linked to air
pollution like cancers, heart diseases, and other ailments.

(21) The residents of West Oakland are already impacted by
goods movements, and do not deserve to bear the brunt of the
health impacts of coal moving through their community.

(22) The transportation of coal through the Bulk and Oversized
Terminal would present a substantially dangerous condition to the
health and safety of the residents of Oakland along with the
workers at the Port of Oakland and is contrary to the goals of the
Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security
Bond Act of 2006.

(b) Because of the substantial dangers to the City of Oakland
and its residents associated with coal shipment and because this
activity is contrary to the intent of the Highway Safety, Traffic
Reduction, begin delete Act Quality end delete begin insert Air Quality, end insert and Port Security begin insert Bond end insert Act
of 2006, begin insert to the extent consistent with federal law, end insert coal shall not
be transported to, or through, the Bulk and Oversized Terminal
located in the former Oakland Army Base.

SEC. 2.  

The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution because of the unique nature of the proposed coal
shipment through the Bulk and Oversized Terminal located in the
former Oakland Army Base in the City of Oakland.