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FreightWaves, 6/13/24

 

Railroads fear losing out to trucks if California gets its way

 

CARB’s zero-emission regulation would force freight onto highways, railroad lobbyists testify

 

WASHINGTON — Major freight railroads and their short-line counterparts raised red flags on Capitol Hill about supply chain consequences of a California regulation aimed at cutting air pollution from locomotives.

 

If the California Air Resources Board is successful in securing approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California’s In-Use Locomotive Regulation, adopted by the state last year, would require all locomotives manufactured after 2035 that travel though the state of California be zero-emission – effectively banning the operation in California of locomotives that are more than 23 years old, based on the original manufacture date, the railroads asserted.

 

Because close to 70% of the Class I locomotive fleet moves in and out of California in any given year, “the rule dramatically increases the cost of providing rail transportation, and most likely shifts a lot of freight onto the highway,” said Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, testifying before the oversight subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Thursday.

 

 

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Progressive Railroading, 5/14/24

 

ASLRRA: CARB locomotive rule would lead to more big trucks on highways

 

American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) President Chuck Baker testified yesterday before the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight in a hearing titled “Environmentalism Off the Rails: How CARB Will Cripple the National Rail Network.”

 

Subcommittee members called the hearing to review impacts from the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) in-use locomotive rule. The CARB rule would prohibit locomotives older than 23 years from operating in the state, starting in 2030 for switch, industrial and passenger locomotives, and in 2035 for line haul locomotives. By 2047, 100% of annual fleet usage in California must be from zero-emission locomotives.

 

 

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Progressive Railroading, 7/10/24

 

CARB reg 'not feasible' for short lines, California rail exec tells Congress

 

Modesto & Empire Traction Co. (MET) President and CEO Dillon Olvera testified yesterday on behalf of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association at a congressional hearing on the California Air Resource Board's (CARB) new in-use locomotive regulation.

 

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials yesterday held a hearing on the CARB rule, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by mandating railroads to transition to low and zero-emission locomotives within the next few years. Railroads also would be required to set aside significant revenue in a fund to acquire the new locomotives.

 

 

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Railway Track and Structures 8/20/24

Opinion

 

Rail Emissions Regulation on Wrong Track

 

Written by Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.)

 

ATLANTA –– Railway Track & Structures has filed several reports on the concerns surrounding locomotive emissions and the search for emission-free fuel, including the recent rule proposal by the State of California to require emission-free locomotives by 2030. Our colleagues at Railway Age ran a commentary yesterday by Rep. Marc Molinaro (R. - N.Y.) about the sizable negative impact this rule could have on our supply chain, particularly if this rule gains nationwide appeal. I thought this commentary would be of great interest to our readers. DCL

 

As my constituents in Upstate New York and Americans across the nation face a historic affordability crisis, conditions are set to get a lot worse if the California Air Resources Board (CARB) succeeds in getting authorization from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban locomotives from operating in California beginning in 2030 unless they are “zero-emission.”   

 

As a House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee member, as a conservationist and as a New Yorker, I can tell you, this regulation is a disaster waiting to happen. It sets unrealistic and misguided limitations on locomotives, will increase the cost of goods, place an additional strain on roads and bridges and weaken our supply chain. 

 

Although the proposed regulation could only be enforced in California initially, the impact will be national if CARB gets federal approval to move forward. That’s because railroads operate on an interconnected network in which an obstruction in one state reverberates system-wide, slowing rail traffic and snarling the supply chain. 

 

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Progressive Railroading, 9/16/24

 

Rep. Nehls introduces 'Stop CARB' bill

 

U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) has introduced legislation that would repeal a waiver exemption for California in order to stop other states from adopting that state's in-use locomotive emissions rule.

 

Nehls' proposed "Stop California from Advancing Regulatory Burden Act" would repeal the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) waiver exemption from the federal Clean Air Act that would allow it to enforce its in-use locomotive rule, which requires switching industrial and passenger locomotives to be zero-emissions by 2030 and freight line-haul locomotives to be emissions-free by 2035.  

 

CARB has requested a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would allow it to adopt those new emissions standards. CARB has over 100 active waivers that set higher emissions standards than the EPA, and none of them are subject to congressional review, according to a press release issued by Nehls' office.

 

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