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Coal Port Idea Inches On As Opponents Pile Up

A preliminary draft of the due-diligence checklist being composed by the Community Impact Board. They want to make sure any money for the Oakland, Calif., port is wisely invested.

The little-known Community Impact Board usually spends its meetings considering funding requests for rural Utah projects like a new justice center in Grantsville or improvements at Grand County’s airport.

But ever since four coal counties requested $53 million dollars to invest in the Oakland, California, port last year, the board has been venturing into controversial, new territory. That explains the new due-diligence checklist the board’s now considering. Keith Heaton is the board’s president.

“Before we spent that type of money, as good stewards of the fund,” he says, “we would want to have an expert look at some of the details of this and make sure that it is a sound investment – not only for the applicant but for the community impact fund and the people of Utah.”

Heaton’s board still hasn’t received that funding application and it hasn’t hired a consultant yet. But environmentalists are challenging the plan after the Oakland California City Council voted to block coal shipments through their port.

Environmentalists have sent a letter with five pages of detailed questions about the port investment. They’ve also called for a federal investigation into the legality of the coal-port plan.

“I think the bottom line is that there’s still a huge question mark over the future viability of this coal terminal,” says Michael Shea, policy director for HEAL Utah. “And I think there’s also a question mark about the legality of this money being allocated the way it has.”

Shea said ordinary impact board projects are also at risk because of the funding committed to the coal-port plan. 

Judy Fahys has reported in Utah for two decades, covering politics, government and business before taking on environmental issues. She loves covering Utah, where petroleum-pipeline spills, the nation’s radioactive legacy and other types of pollution provide endless fodder for stories. Previously, she worked for the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, and reported on the nation’s capital for States News Service and the Scripps League newspaper chain. She is a longtime member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors. She also spent an academic year as a research fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In her spare time, she enjoys being out in the environment, especially hiking, gardening and watercolor painting.
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