![]() The EPA said last fall that it will consider toughening its rules for locomotive pollution that were last updated in 2008, but California regulators acted first. "For those of us that lived next to the railyards, it's significant because it's a step towards reducing something that is very harmful for our communities," she said of the rule. Aguayo, whose brother has asthma, is concerned about the health risks diesel pollution from locomotives poses to residents. For more than two decades, Aguayo lived near a BNSF railyard in San Bernardino, California. "There's generally been a reckless disregard from the rail industry for saving lives from air pollution, and this is just another feather in their cap in their pursuit of continuing to burn really dirty diesel fuel," Martinez said of the lawsuit.Īlicia Aguayo, a spokesperson for the advocacy group People's Collective for Environmental Justice, is also not surprised by the lawsuit. The board estimates it will save $32 billion in health care costs and prevent 3,200 premature deaths.Īdrian Martinez, a lawyer with environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, called the fate of the California rule "a matter of life and death." CARB says the rules will dramatically reduce pollution from nitrogen oxides, which contribute to the formation of smog, and a type of tiny pollutants that can penetrate deep into a person's lungs and has been linked to cancer. Regulators say they must move quickly given the scope of the emissions problems from locomotives. Environmental Protection Agency.ĬARB spokesperson Lys Mendez said Friday the board had not yet seen the lawsuit and would not comment on it. The transportation sector contributed the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, but rail only made up 2% of those emissions, according to the U.S. The railroad groups say in their lawsuit that the rules show regulators' "lack of experience with and understanding of the railroad industry."Īnother argument from opponents of the California rule is that transporting goods through railways contributes fewer planet-warming emissions than if those goods were trucked. "Railroads are working toward reliable, efficient zero-emissions technologies however, they cannot simply be willed into immediate existence by policymakers." "While the urgency to act is real and unquestionable, CARB (the California Air Resources Board) uses unreasonable, flawed assumptions to support a rule that will not result in emissions reductions," said Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, an industry trade association that filed the lawsuit along with the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. They note that more than 500 companies all share the 180,000 miles of track across 49 states, Canada and Mexico. The trade groups say that only the federal government can regulate railroads because it is an interconnected industry that crosses state lines. The lawsuit asks a judge to declare the California Air Resources Board does not have the authority to issue these rules. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the industry says the technology for zero-emission locomotives hasn't been sufficiently tested and won't be ready to carry the load of delivering more than 30 million carloads of freight nationwide each year. Due to the crucial role California ports hold and the way railroads pass off trains to each other, the state's mandate would have huge effects nationwide. But the rules governing railroads would ban the use of locomotives more than 23 years old starting in 2030 and would force railroads to start setting aside more than $1 billion a year starting this fall solely to purchase zero-emission locomotives and related equipment. Those rules are designed to slowly phase out gas- and diesel-powered products by banning the sale of most new combustible engines. Since 2020, the state has OK'd rules that would ban the sale of new gas-powered cars, lawn equipment and trucks by the middle of the next decade. The railroad industry on Friday sued to block new environmental rules in California, arguing they would force the premature retirement of about 25,000 diesel-powered locomotives across the country long before their zero-emission counterparts are ready to take their place.Ĭalifornia's aggressive strategy to fight climate change by weaning the state off fossil fuels has produced some of the world's toughest environmental regulations in the past few years.
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