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Pro-coal demonstrators face off against anti-coal opponents in front of City Hall before a special council meeting on the shipping and storage of coal on Monday, June 27, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) (Photo by MediaNews G

OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland might have to pay at least $230 million as a result of a federal judge’s finding that the city directly prevented a company from developing a coal terminal, forcing it into bankruptcy. 

The 47-page ruling was issued Tuesday by Western District of Kentucky U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Joan Lloyd, in favor of a company called Insight Terminal Solutions, or ITS, vs. Oakland. 

Lloyd found that Oakland “tortiously interfered” with ITS, which subleased from Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, whose main developer is Phil Tagami, when it stopped these companies from constructing a terminal that would have shipped coal overseas. 

The judge specifically called out former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and former City Councilmember Dan Kalb and others, who said at the time that they would “do everything in their power to stop the Terminal project,” according to the ruling.

As a result, the judge wrote, then-Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker and employees in her office would not acknowledge the validity of the ITS’s sublease and provided a “false statement” to interfere with the terminal project.

And the current mayor has vowed to stop coal, too. 

“Such position has been reaffirmed and further propagated by Mayor Barbara Lee, who, as recently as March 2025, stated that she would stop a coal terminal from moving forward,” the judge wrote.

The city of Oakland and the mayor did not respond Tuesday for immediate comment. 

Protesters march along Portal Avenue to the home of developer Phil Tagami to rally against a proposed coal terminal at the Port of Oakland on Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) (Photo by MediaNews Group/Bay Are

This ruling is the latest blow for Oakland in terms of its long-running coal dispute with Tagami, a well-known Oakland developer, whose projects include the Oakland Army Base Redevelopment, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, and the Fox Theater in Oakland . 

ITS and Tagami’s company have been trying to build a terminal for exporting all sorts of items, including coal, from the Oakland waterfront, for more a decade. 

In 2016, Tagami sued the city of Oakland after the City Council, which voted to ban the transport of coal through Oakland, resulting in protests throughout the city. 

The anti-coal group also fought in state and federal court — and the project never got off the ground. A website, No Coal in Oakland, keeps track of the wins and losses. 

In the meantime, ITS had to file for bankruptcy in Kentucky, where it is located, and where the latest bankruptcy judge’s ruling stemmed from. 

Last year, ITS filed a complaint in bankruptcy court that aimed to hold Oakland accountable for interfering with its contract. 

In September, Oakland exhausted its last-ditch effort to appeal a state court ruling that found in favor of Tagami’s terminal. 

As a result of that ruling, Tagami will be able to keep and extend its lease for a plot of city-owned land to restart the terminal project. 

What exactly Oakland will have to pay has yet to be determined. 

ITS is arguing that it is owed damages worth $673 million, while Oakland’s expert conceded that damages could be at least $230 million.  

Oakland