The Baltimore City Council approved on Monday a bill to ban new or expanded crude oil terminals throughout Baltimore City, and if the mayor signs the bill into law, Baltimore would become the first East Coast city to ban this specific kind of infrastructure for fossil fuels. While the U.S. is increasing its crude production that is already beating the 1970 record, U.S. cities like Portland, Oregon, have used their zoning codes to ban new and expanded crude oil terminals, because federal law prohibits local jurisdictions from regulating commercial rail traffic. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has not yet indicated if she will sign the City Council bill into law, but environmental activists are already calling on the mayor to “protect Balmoreans from dangerous crude oil shipments and climate change,” the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) said after the bill was passed. “This bill is a common sense step to […]