Denny, the community organizer of Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), also a Richmond High Alumni came to share his work on Petroleum Coke regulation in Richmond. The No Coal in Richmond campaign will ban the storage of coal and petroleum coke at the Levin Terminal located near Cutting Blvd and Harbour way. The coal is transported by train and goes through all the neighborhoods in Richmond spreading coal dust that poses a serious health issues to students/residents who live along the train tracks and near the Levin Terminal who stores Coal and PetCoke in massive open piles. This operation has been going on since 2013 and most residents were unaware of this issue until recently but thanks to our coalition partners and Council member Eduardo Martinez we have an ordinance that City Council will vote on December 3rd to ban Coal/PetCoke storage in Richmond.
During the two hour period, interns learned about environmental justice, just transition models and designed their dream Richmond Neighborhood!
In the ideal land of Richmond, created by our very own Earth Team interns who have the interests of both the environment and the people, there would be more locally sourced produce, hospitals and a great mall, with no prison.
Perhaps most importantly, there would be a BART line directly to Pinole where a lot of the interns’ families currently reside. The interns were quick to reflect on the topics learned in previous sessions on how public transportation greatly decreases the pollutants in air and are committed to create a clean & just transition for Richmond.
