Loading ...Bloomberg) — A federal judge struck down the city of Oakland, California’s ban prohibiting companies from transporting coal though an export terminal that U.S. miners see as a key link to overseas markets.
The ban enacted by the city in 2014 violates a development agreement, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said Tuesday in a 37-page ruling.
As demand for coal in the U.S. declines, miners depend increasingly on overseas markets. Yet Wyoming and Montana’s Powder River Basin, home to the nation’s largest reserves, is largely cut off from the world market without West Coast ports.