Law

Coal trains are coming to California. And they'll be shipping coal through the port of Stockton, then through the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta to the open Pacific. It's a disaster in the making.

Frustrated by the shrinking demand for coal in the United States, the coal barons have been scheming to send the coal of the Western United States to Asian countries thirsty for power. A major chokepoint has been West Coast ports - only one deepwater, sorely overburdened port in Vancouver exists. The coal companies drew up plans for six deepwater ports in Oregon and Washington, only to be met with fierce resistance from residents who don't want mile-long coal trains sidling through their towns, tying up traffic, and shedding coal dust like so many industrial pythons. So far the activists have blocked construction of three terminals in Oregon and Washington, with three more still on the drawing boards.

Enter Stockton, an inland California city at the far east of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, recently bankrupt and desperate for jobs.