8 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

Associated Press, 4/27/23

 

California to vote on ambitious locomotive emission rule

 

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Every day, locomotives pull rail cars filled with food, lumber, oil and other products through railyards near neighborhoods in Oakland, Commerce, San Bernadino and other California cities.

 

They run on diesel, a more powerful fuel than gasoline, and burning all that diesel produces pollution that is harmful for people who live nearby, as well as greenhouse gases. California’s Air Resources Board is trying to change that.

 

The agency votes Thursday on a rule that would ban the use of locomotive engines more than 23 years old by 2030 and increase the use of zero-emissions technology to transport freight from ports and throughout railyards. The rule would also ban locomotives in the state from idling longer than 30 minutes if they are equipped with an automatic shutoff.

 

The rule would be the most ambitious of its kind in the country.

 

 

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This is similar to California's ban on trucks with pre-2010 engines.

[CNJRoss]

Railway Age, 4/28/23

 

CARB Passes New In-Use Locomotive Regulation

 

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) on April 27 passed a new rule aimed at reducing emissions from locomotives when they operate within the state.

 

According to CARB, under the In-Use Locomotive Regulation—the first-of-its-kind in the nation—operators will now be required to pay into a spending account, and the amount will be determined by the emissions they create while operating in California. Companies, CARB says, will be able to use the funds to upgrade to cleaner locomotive technologies; locomotives will also have a 30-minute idling limit. Additionally, switch, industrial and passenger locomotives built in 2030 or after will be required to operate in zero-emissions configurations while in California, and in 2035 for freight line haul.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Progressive Railroading, 5/3/23

 

ASLRRA upset with California's new locomotive emissions reg

 

American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) officials this week expressed dismay at the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) decision to implement a regulation that calls for fees charged to railroads that use locomotives that are not Tier 4 or zero-emission units.

 

The CARB voted last week to implement the rule, which is designed to help speed up adoption of advanced cleaner technologies for all locomotive operations, according to the board's website. The goal also is in keeping with California Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order calling for all off-road vehicles and equipment operations to be zero-emission by 2035.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Trains News Wire

 

Railroads file suit over California’s new locomotive emissions regulations

 

June 16, 2023

 

Suit by AAR, ASLRRA seeks to have regulations delayed while legal challenges are resolved

 

WASHINGTON — Railroads have filed suit against the California Air Resources Board’s new diesel locomotive emissions standards, arguing that the state body lacks the authority to implement the In-Use Locomotive rule.

 

The Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, on behalf of their members, filed suit against the California Air Resources Board in the Eastern District of California over the In-Use Locomotive regulation that was approved on April 27. The groups have asked the court to delay implementation of the new rule until legal challenges are resolved.

 

AAR and ASLRRA say the CARB rule would limit the useful life of the nation’s 25,000-unit locomotive fleet and mandate their premature replacement with zero-emissions locomotives.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Railway Age, 6/21/23

 

Railroads File Suit Over CARB’s New In-Use Locomotive Regulation (Updated with TD Cowen Commentary)

 

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor

 

 

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) on June 16 filed a lawsuit, on behalf of their members, against the California Air Resources Board (CARB), challenging its In-Use Locomotive Rule, passed April 27, which they said “would limit the useful life of today’s locomotive fleet (more than 25,000 locomotives) and mandate their premature replacement with zero-emissions locomotives.”

 

SNIP

 

In the lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of California, AAR and ASLRRA “argue that CARB lacks the legal authority to promulgate the In-Use Locomotive Rule,” the associations reported June 16. “Due to the interconnected nature of rail operations and the need for uniform regulatory policies, Congress, the courts, federal regulators, and even CARB itself have long acknowledged that the federal government has exclusive authority to regulate rail operations.” As a part of the suit, the groups said they filed to “preliminarily enjoin implementation and enforcement of the rule while the district court considers the case.”

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Trains News Wire

 

California locomotive emissions regulations can be tougher than federal standards, EPA says

 

November 10, 2023

 

The rail industry is still challenging California Air Resources Board’s more stringent emissions standards

 

WASHINGTON — California and other states can enact tougher locomotive emissions standards than those imposed by the federal government, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said this week.

 

The policy change, which goes into effect on Dec. 8, means the California Air Resources Board’s controversial locomotive emissions regulations will not run afoul of federal preemption of state and local regulations.

 

“This rule implements a policy change to no longer categorically preempt certain State regulations of non-new locomotives and engines, aligning with the plain text of the Clean Air Act, and better achieving the legislative intent of providing for exclusive Federal regulation of new locomotives and new locomotive engines . . .

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Progressive Railroading, 4/22/24

 

Senators call on EPA to stop California's zero-emissions locomotive rule

 

Twelve U.S. senators have written to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan urging the agency to fully consider the impact of approving the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) request for a waiver for its In-Use Locomotive Regulation.

 

Designed to reduce emissions in the rail industry, the regulation would "impose significant operational and financial burdens" on Class Is and short lines operating in California, states the letter, which is posted on the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association's website.

 

In order for the regulation to take effect, the EPA must grant a waiver from the federal Clean Air Act.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Railway Age, 5/7/24

Commentary

 

BIG Reason to Blow Up CARB’s Unrealistic ‘In-Use Locomotive Rule’

 

Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief

 

Report from California, courtesy of the Victorville Daily Press: “Barstow Leaders Rally Legislative Support to Save BNSF’s $1.5 Billion Railway Project,” the headline read. “Barstow city leaders traveled to Sacramento to gain legislative support for construction of BNSF’s Barstow International Gateway (BIG) project. Construction of the $1.5 billion state-of-the-art rail facility is in jeopardy of being halted by a state rule (the “In-Use Locomotive Rule”) mandating BNSF use ‘zero-emissions’ (ZE) or all-electric locomotives by 2035.

 

Is BIG in big trouble because the California Air Resources Board (CARB) wants to snuff out diesel locomotive exhaust, which accounts for an almost negligible 1% of all GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions nationally? Force BNSF—and all other railroads operating in the state—to move, within a few years, to ZE motive power—battery-electric, HFC (hydrogen fuel cell) or catenary-electric—which is either a) in its very early stages, in limited test-case use in captive environments (like Pacific Harbor Line, where an EMD Joule unit is deployed as a switcher), or impossible for an intermodal operation, for the simple, shocking reason that 25Kv AC catenary, lift cranes and double-stack containers don’t mix too well?

 

Seems to me that the folks at CARB have been inhaling smoke from funny cigarettes while trying to cut down on other types of smoke. There’s nothing inherently wrong with cutting diesel locomotive exhaust emissions, but let’s be practical. Would CARB rather see all that intermodal traffic shift from rail to truck? What would that do to emissions in the State of California? And even if all the big trucks running on California’s highways were to go 100% electric (which they won’t in the foreseeable future), what about traffic congestion and pavement/bridge damage?

 

 

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Cross-posted in BNSF Barstow International Gateway (BIG) Proposed and

California Passes Ambitious In-Use Locomotive Emission Regulation

[CNJRoss]

Railway Age, 5/7/24

Commentary

 

BIG Reason to Blow Up CARB’s Unrealistic ‘In-Use Locomotive Rule’

 

Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief

 

Report from California, courtesy of the Victorville Daily Press: “Barstow Leaders Rally Legislative Support to Save BNSF’s $1.5 Billion Railway Project,” the headline read. “Barstow city leaders traveled to Sacramento to gain legislative support for construction of BNSF’s Barstow International Gateway (BIG) project. Construction of the $1.5 billion state-of-the-art rail facility is in jeopardy of being halted by a state rule (the “In-Use Locomotive Rule”) mandating BNSF use ‘zero-emissions’ (ZE) or all-electric locomotives by 2035.

 

Is BIG in big trouble because the California Air Resources Board (CARB) wants to snuff out diesel locomotive exhaust, which accounts for an almost negligible 1% of all GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions nationally? Force BNSF—and all other railroads operating in the state—to move, within a few years, to ZE motive power—battery-electric, HFC (hydrogen fuel cell) or catenary-electric—which is either a) in its very early stages, in limited test-case use in captive environments (like Pacific Harbor Line, where an EMD Joule unit is deployed as a switcher), or  impossible for an intermodal operation, for the simple, shocking reason that 25Kv AC catenary, lift cranes and double-stack containers don’t mix too well?

 

Seems to me that the folks at CARB have been inhaling smoke from funny cigarettes while trying to cut down on other types of smoke. There’s nothing inherently wrong with cutting diesel locomotive exhaust emissions, but let’s be practical. Would CARB rather see all that intermodal traffic shift from rail to truck? What would that do to emissions in the State of California? And even if all the big trucks running on California’s highways were to go 100% electric (which they won’t in the foreseeable future), what about traffic congestion and pavement/bridge damage?

 

 

Continue here. 

 

Cross-posted in BNSF Barstow International Gateway (BIG) Proposed and

California Passes Ambitious In-Use Locomotive Emission Regulation