Trump Administration Shovels $75 million into Controversial Oakland Coal Terminal

Trump Administration Shovels $75 million into Controversial Oakland Coal Terminal

From KQED's Forum by KQED

June 10, 2026 · 55 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the Trump administration's funding of a controversial coal terminal in Oakland and the community's opposition to the project.

The Trump administration said it will allocate $75 million dollars to fund a new coal terminal on the waterfront in West Oakland. Developer Phil Tagami has been working on building a shipping terminal on city-owned land for more than a decade. The coal export plan has faced major community opposition and a slew of lawsuits, which have since been resolved. With the legal challenges out of the way and federal funding, the developers now plan to start construction next year. We talk about the Trump administration’s larger strategy to boost the coal industry, community opposition to the project and what a coal terminal means for the environment and climate change. Guests: Darwin BondGraham, news editor, Oaklandside Maxine Joselow, climate reporter, The New York Times Jill Tauber, vice president of litigation for climate and energy, Earthjustice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Guests: Darwin BondGraham, Maxine Joselow, Jill Tauber

Topics covered

  • coal terminal
  • environment
  • climate change
  • community opposition
  • federal funding
  • Trump administration

Keywords

  • coal terminal
  • Trump administration
  • Oakland
  • community opposition
  • climate change
  • federal funding
  • Phil Tagami

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Trump administration, Oaklandside, The New York Times, Earthjustice

Places: Oakland

More episodes of KQED's Forum

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the KQED's Forum podcast page.