OAKLAND — As Utah this week passed a bill to invest $53 million of taxpayer money for a coal shipping facility in Oakland, this city’s officials are paring down volumes of evidence on whether transporting the ore here would endanger residents.

The Utah bill, a key piece of funding for a massive shipping terminal near the Port of Oakland, passed through that state’s House and Senate on Thursday and is awaiting a signature from Gov. Gary Herbert, who is expected to sign the bill into law.

Meanwhile, Oakland city staff and outside consultants are reviewing evidence submitted to the city in preparation for a report to the City Council sometime next month.

The 2013 city agreement with developer Phil Tagami to transform the former Oakland Army Base into a logistics center made no mention of coal but did not restrict it as one of the commodities to be exported there.

Since then, Tagami and Terminal Logistics Solutions have proposed exporting coal as part of the massive, $250 million bulk commodities terminal located on the Outer Harbor, southeast of the Bay Bridge toll plaza.

Because of the earlier agreement it appears the one way for the city to stop the coal transports — which the council generally opposed in a 2014 resolution opposing the transportation of coal and crude oil through Oakland — would be to declare the shipments a health and safety hazard to residents along the rail line.

“I want to get back to the council as soon as possible,” Assistant City Administrator Claudia Cappio said Friday. “We need to be treating this body of evidence in a very careful way.”

Passage of the Utah bill was applauded by the head of Terminal Logistics Solutions, but criticized by environmental groups and the office of state Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Oakland. The environmental groups say the funding increases pressure on Oakland leaders to act swiftly to halt coal as an option for the terminal.

“It’s up to the Oakland City Council to act quickly to stop this dangerous proposal to ship coal through Oakland,” Cesia Kearns of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign said in a statement. “Unless Governor Brown’s administration and the Oakland City Council act, legislators in Utah will be dictating California energy policy and Oakland air quality.”

Jerry Bridges, president and CEO of TLS, said the vote in Utah “is a positive development.”

“Utah has various commodities that they need to have a port for and they are invested in their future,” Bridges said Friday. “I think it’s a very smart move on their part.

“I think the record is clear as far as TLS is concerned there are no health and safety issues associated with the shipment of any commodity through our terminal,” Bridges added.

The coal would be taken by rail from Utah to Oakland and shipped overseas to Asia. Environmental groups and Hancock argue it would expose West Oakland residents to greater risks of respiratory illness and the exports of coal fly in the face of the state’s commitment to clean air and energy.

Last month, Hancock introduced four bills targeting coal shipments in California and asked the California Transportation Commission to stop funding to the Oakland project. The redevelopment of the former Oakland Army Base is set to receive hundreds of millions in public funding and $242 million from the CTC for rail and access improvements to the site, according to Hancock’s office.

About two-thirds of the funding has been given to the city of Oakland, Hancock’s Communications Director Ray Sotero said. Sotero said the plan in Oakland could make it the largest coal exporting facility on the West Coast.

“Clearly, they want to move forward in building this in a district that the community does not want,” Sotero said. “Senator Hancock is very upset by that. She is determined to do whatever she can to halt this environmentally dangerous toxic project.

“At the same time, she is hoping Oakland City Council will do what it can to stop the project and make her bills less urgent,” he said.

Meanwhile, the East Bay Express this week reported that a Kentucky-based coal company donated $750 to Utah State Sen. J. Stuart Adams, who introduced the Utah coal legislation, a total of $5,950 to 11 Utah senators who voted in favor of the bill, and has given money to Gov. Herbert.

Bowie Resources Partners has coal mines in Utah and has expressed interest in a West Coast coal export terminal, the Express reported.

David DeBolt covers Oakland. Contact him at 510-208-6453. Follow him at Twitter.com/daviddebolt.