Richmond bans coal shipments from port despite threats of lawsuits

A train carrying coal rolls into Levin-Richmond Terminal. Richmond City Cuncil has ordered the private port to end coal and petroleum coke ship-ments within three years. Richmond City Council has voted to ban coal shipments out of a private port despite threats from the port owners that they would sue to block the ban, costing the city millions. The council’s decision Tuesday came nearly a month after Mayor Tom Butt delayed the vote in hopes of coming to an agreement with port owners. “I wanted to have an opportunity to come to an agreement with Levin,” Butt told The Chronicle on Tuesday. “We were unable to do that.” After “a lot of meetings,” Butt said the city and port couldn’t agree on the timeline to phase out use of coal at the port and whether petroleum coke would be included in the ordinance. Butt declined to give details. The Levin-Richmond Terminal is one of just four ports on the West Coast that still ships coal, after Oakland banned the product at its port, a move that faces legal challenges. In 2018, a federal judge ruled that Oakland could not ban the storage of coal. The city is appealing the […]

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