A California bill that would place new environmental review hurdles in front of an Oakland coal export project supported by the Trump administration cleared its first policy committee on Wednesday.
What happened: The Senate Environmental Quality Committee voted 4-2 to pass Assemblymember Mia Bonta’s AB 40, a measure introduced last month to slow down a controversial proposed coal export terminal.
Why it matters: Bonta introduced the gut-and-amend bill after President Donald Trump announced in June that he was invoking the Defense Production Act to allow the Energy Department to invest $700 million nationwide in the coal industry. That move included $75 million for the Oakland project.
If built, the facility would receive millions of tons of coal shipped by train from states like Utah and Wyoming. It would serve as the main access point for the U.S. coal industry to export to Asian markets that have been largely cut off, as West Coast coal terminals have closed, and proposals for new facilities have failed to move forward.
