Oakland from a distance – Even though we’re in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, some people insist on maintaining their pre-pandemic behaviors and won’t get a clue: such is true for the extreme left in Oakland and the SF Bay Area, who are starting to look like the extreme right in rural Florida and rural Georgia.
One reason Zennie62Media pursued Insight Terminal Solutions as a content client, wasn’t just to show off our media tech, but because I personally know the truth about the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, its history, and the energy industry, including coal. (My interest goes back to The Energy Crisis, I lived through and chances are you did not. Even then, some were predicting “The End of Oil”. That was 1976 through 1979; oil is still here, and so am I.)
Most of the people who represent the extreme left in Oakland can’t even tell you how the very electricity they use is produced. Rather than seek technical arguments, they engage in name calling, bullying, and personal attacks, even tricking hapless young teenagers into doing their bad deeds for them.
And therein lay the problem. Because the extreme left in Oakland doesn’t understand how the very electricity they use is produced, explaining how technology can be applied to reduce emissions is something they’re not even interested in listening to. We’ve gone from Star Trek TOS, where its tools like the communicator became the basis for the iPhone you use, today, to Star Wars, which has had no impact on communications technology at all.
As a society, America has gone from the technical thinking required to realize peace with the Klingons, to simple ideas of good versus evil in “The Force” and the “Dark Side Of The Force”. Our society’s dramatic generational remission of intelligent thinking has rendered many of us collectively unable to understand the very forces person-kind has made to make our lives better, like energy production.
So, it’s not a question of how to make energy production cleaner – for the extreme left in Oakland, the Oakland coal activists, that’s considered not even possible, even though it is. So, the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, a project long the dream of the Port of Oakland’s most competent planners in history, is completely mischaracterized as an old-fashioned, polluting, coal terminal. First, it’s not an old-fashioned, polluting, coal terminal – it’s planned to be a job-producing bulk terminal. Second, the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal method of transporting commodities, including coal, is both technically and really cool, and because the City of Oakland wanted it that way from the start. Third, coal was identified not by Phil Tagami for the OBOT, but by the City of Oakland. That’s right, the City of Oakland.
The truth of this was known by me since 2011 (and the City’s desire for a bulk terminal known by me as far back as 1988 when I was an intern to the Oakland Redevelopment Agency), but the City of Oakland 2015 ATS (After Tom Steyer), seemingly fearful of being on the wrong-side of the giant flood of climate change money streaming from Tom Steyer, let alone the lobbying groups he either financed or created, or both, tried to cover up the fact in various ways. In my opinion, the most dastardly of them was the attempt by the City of Oakland lawyers to cover-up the very existence of the one document that would burn their efforts at a coal ban: The Tioga Group Study of 2011.
Here’s the summary of the work proposal by the Tioga Group:
BACKGROUND
CEDA has been offered the opportunity to conduct business at the Port of Oakland. The site is Wharf 7 as described in the current report from HDR‘ This wharf is believed to be suitable as a break—bulk Facility, and possibly at roll-on, roll-off facility. Until now the locations has been a break—bulk facility primarily for military, either break-bulk or large vehicles. However, in recent years because of the lack of a usable rail route and connection to the mainline at its prior Wood Street yard, the wharf has been used only for storage and ancillary activities primarily related to the construction of the new eastern half of the San Fi‘ancisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
The present master plan for development of this area’has been designed by HDR. It calls for Wharf 7 to be retained. Hence, that raises the question: how best can the wharf be utilized? One option is to resurrect a break—bulk service. This has an attraction due to two factors.
First, the master plan For the revitalized site includes providing an active rail service via a dedicated siding served by the planned, new Oakland Gateway Rail Enterprise (OGRE) switching railroad, and thence connecting to the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), but not to the BNSF Railway. The expectation is that this will attract shipments for prior or subsequent movement by rail.
The second is that the site will be surrounded by a new, large logistics complex The prospective tenants at the complex will have rail. access also, and in connection with their business may want rail service to a nearby break—bulk Facility for import and export cargos. The developer of that facility has referenced an “Oakland Bulk Oversized Terminal”. It needs to be determined if that reference is to the Wharf7 Facility; if it is not, it needs to be determined what the reference is to.
Oakland’s Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA) has a number considerations entering into a commercial venture to provide such service for either intracoastal barge service 01′ international cargo ship service, The first is an assessment of the market for such a service. All other considerations follow; primary among them is the viability of the proposed, new rail switching service contemplated by OGRE.
OBJECTIVE
The objective to be achieved ’by the project proposed herein is an initial assessment of the market for the proposed setvice(s) that might be conducted at Wharf 7.
SCOPE
The scope of the project has three parts. The first is a review of the history of such cargos
moving to / from the West Coast of North America (WCNA); the second is an assessment of the
competitive aspects as posed by nearby, alternative port Facilities; the third is an explanation of attraction, if any, of the availability of inland rail service as compared to alternative ports.Depending on the outcome of this first project, it is easy to envision additional, key considerations. But, those are necessary to investigate only it the market and service prospects are attractive.
APPROACH and QUALIFICATIONS
Tioga has the benefit of creating a very recent (September 201l) review and forecast of most of the possible markets for the San Francisco Bay Area Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) as part 0.!” its update to its Seaport Plan. Also, Tioga has the benefit ofits past projects at a number of nearby ports with which a facility at the Port of Oakland would compete. Finally, Tioga can explain the economics and service considerations facing an importer/exportei’ interested in moving goods via inland rail or truck via the Port of Oakland.
Hence, Tioga’s approach is to provide CEDA a broad, but ‘not necessarily deep, assessment. The goal would be to look for opportunities and fatal flaws. This has the advantage of minimizing CEDA’s required expenditure for this study and sorting through the options for the next phase of a more complete investigation of options that survive this project.
The full Tioga Group Study is here.
Prior to the growth of the so-called climate change lobby, the City of Oakland and the Port of Oakland’s collective plan was to build a giant intermodal bulk terminal logistics center using the land of the former Oakland Army Base. Coal was but one of several commodities that was to be shipped, but the Tom-Steyer-financed climate change lobby, focused only on coal (and not iron ore or sulphur) altered the picture to make it look as if coal was the only focus and the intent was to make a new, polluting, transportation facility. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Pandemic The Worldwide Energy Market And The Worldwide Coal Market
One giant misunderstanding that is marked in the fake news in the media discussion about the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, is the idea that coal is a thing of the past. The truth is that worldwide energy demand has fallen to rates previously unseen.
Since coal is a primary-use commodity, it’s logical that worldwide coal consumption would dive – but arguments that renewable energy are taking over for coal are simply politically-driven, and have no truth. Since many nations, and 18 states in America, still rely on coal for use in their energy production processes, they’re not going to suddenly spend money they don’t have to switch to renewable energy, when overall demand is low. Arguments to the contrary don’t pass the logic test. Media writing that “renewable energy” is the big winner, write as if the current economic depression will last forever – and it seems like some want it to.
And while we’re thinking about the economic depression and the extreme left’s love for hyperbole, has anyone noticed that the extreme left ignores the fact that gas prices are at historic lows and tries to create the idea that electric cars are in high demand over their gas-powered counterparts? Car and Driver Magazine Online will tell ya with the headline “Electric-Vehicle Adoption Likely to Slow amid Pandemic, Recession.” And why not? Have you seen the rock-bottom low price of gas? It’s no wonder worldwide electric vehicle sales are worse off than that for gas vehicles.
The truth is that it takes time and money for the kind of energy-type changes some believe will happen, to happen. In a Pandemic, the world can’t afford to wait for energy production to be retooled before its restored. Worldwide coal demand will rise with the return to economic performance, betting against such a development is foolish.
Stay tuned.