Richmond council delays vote on coal terminal ban

After hearing almost four hours of impassioned testimony from all sides of the issue that ran into the wee hours of the morning, the Richmond City Council took no action on a controversial proposed ordinance that would phase out storage of coal and petcoke at a waterfront terminal facility.

After the last speaker addressed the council, Mayor Tom Butt moved to adjourn the meeting, with no council discussion of the ordinance that would phase out coal and petcoke storage at the Levin-Richmond Terminal on the Santa Fe Channel east of Point Richmond and south of the Iron Triangle neighborhood. Levin-Richmond Terminal would have three years to phase out coal and petcoke handling at the waterfront site, which could transition to storing other materials, according to a Richmond city staff report.