On April 7, 2015, a small newspaper in Utah ran a story about a previously unreported plan by four coal-producing counties to invest in a new West Coast export terminal. An emailed memo, later obtained through public records requests, showed how Utah officials were trying to keep the project under wraps:

“We’ve had an unfortunate article appear on the terminal project…the script was to downplay coal… “[Terminal developer] Phil Tagami had been pleased at the low profile that was bumping along to date on the terminal and it looked for a few days like it would just roll into production with no serious discussion…”

But the secret was out.

When West Oakland residents learned that a local private developer had quietly cut a deal to bring trainloads of climate-disrupting coal to their neighborhood and then export them to the rest of the world, opposition quickly coalesced.

What was the deal?

Thanks to the dogged efforts of locals, in July 2016 the Oakland City Council banned coal from being handled and stored in the city. Weeks later, Governor Jerry Brown delivered another crushing blow to coal by signing a bill that blocks future state funding for all coal shipping terminals in California.

Citizens, faith leaders, politicians, environmentalists and labor organizers in Oakland came together to successfully defeat this antiquated idea for their modern city.

These are some of their stories.